Vizient Vulnerability Index receives patent for neighborhood-level social vulnerability analytics

IRVING, Texas, May 26, 2026 — Vizient® today announced the United States Patent and Trademark Office has awarded a patent for the methodology underlying the Vizient Vulnerability Index™, a proprietary analytics tool designed to help healthcare organizations better understand the social and environmental factors that influence health outcomes and access to care at the neighborhood level.

The Vizient Vulnerability Index differs from traditional social vulnerability tools by incorporating a broader set of social drivers of health — including transportation access, healthcare access, food insecurity, housing and environmental conditions — to provide a more localized view of barriers affecting health outcomes and access to care. Operating at the census tract and ZIP-code level, the Index helps organizations identify where needs are concentrated within communities.

“Healthcare is local. Organizations need actionable insights that reflect the unique barriers affecting the communities they serve,” said Jason Mitchell, lead data scientist, Vizient, and one of the inventors named on the patent. “The Vizient Vulnerability Index was developed to provide a more precise view of community vulnerability so organizations can identify where interventions, partnerships and resources may have the greatest impact.”

When paired with the Vizient Clinical Data Base, the Index helps organizations better understand how neighborhood-level barriers to care relate to patient quality outcomes and cost drivers across patient populations.

The patented methodology reinforces Vizient’s continued investment in data-driven solutions that help healthcare organizations improve quality, operational performance and community health strategies.

“Healthcare organizations increasingly need data that connects community-level conditions with clinical and operational outcomes,” said David Levine MD FACEP, senior vice president and chief medical officer, Vizient. “The Vizient Vulnerability Index helps providers better understand how social drivers of health vary across neighborhoods so they can make more informed decisions about care delivery, resource allocation and community partnerships.”

In 2023, Vizient made the Vizient Vulnerability Index publicly accessible at no cost. Learn more about how the Vizient Vulnerability Index helps healthcare organizations analyze social drivers of health and community vulnerability.

About Vizient, Inc.
Vizient, Inc., the nation’s largest provider-driven healthcare performance improvement company, provides solutions and services to more than two-thirds of the nation’s acute care providers and more than one-third of ambulatory providers. Vizient offers proprietary data and analytics to deliver unique clinical and operational insights and a contract portfolio representing $156 billion in annual purchasing volume enabling the delivery of cost-effective care. With its acquisition of Kaufman Hall in 2024, Vizient expanded its advisory services to help providers achieve financial, clinical and operational excellence. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Vizient has offices throughout the United States. Learn more at www.vizientinc.com.