A process drive of the EHR Affiliation has made suggestions for a way social determinants of well being (SDOH) information must be captured in digital well being data. 

The affiliation’s Social Determinants of Well being and Well being Fairness Process Pressure’s not too long ago printed “Suggestions for Determinant Seize,” notes that there’s at present a scarcity of consensus round which SDOH domains must be assessed by healthcare suppliers and a standardized method to capturing the required data.

In actual fact, as inpatient organizations put together to start out reporting on affected person screenings for social determinants in 2024, the EHR Affiliation advises that CMS contemplate suspending this requirement. “This delay would enable for enough time to collect insights and study from trade practices,” the duty drive mentioned.

“The dearth of uniformity in prioritizing and defining social threat domains by totally different stakeholders ends in the absence of a constant, universally agreed-upon, and prioritized checklist of domains acceptable for evaluation by suppliers,” the duty drive wrote. “This inconsistency typically results in overlapping domains, complicating the trade and interpretation of this information. The absence of clear pointers for threat evaluation and standardized illustration of dangers in EHRs hinders efficient information trade to tell interactions on the level of care.”

The white paper additionally says the problem is made extra difficult as a result of regulatory businesses aren’t working in sync, and since there’s a rising proliferation of terminology. “To successfully reply to evolving policy-making, the trade should align on a standardized method for representing threat and agree on which dangers are prioritized for assortment and evaluation.”


The white paper proposes a number of suggestions that it says would supply an affordable path ahead for EHR builders and the healthcare trade:

• EHRs ought to standardize how they symbolize area threat. (At a minimal, an EHR ought to be capable to point out whether or not a affected person was assessed for a site threat, whether or not that threat is current, and the strategy of evaluation if a standardized instrument or questionnaire was used.)

• The requirements trade ought to decide how area threat is represented in information trade. 

• The healthcare neighborhood ought to checklist and prioritize which domains must be assessed. (The EHR Affiliation mentioned it acknowledges the work of the HL7 Gravity Undertaking in establishing a complete checklist of standardized domains. It endorses this checklist as a foundational information for healthcare organizations and regulatory businesses in figuring out important domains for normal evaluation. Ought to the trade decide that new domains must be assessed, it urges collaboration with the Gravity Undertaking for inclusion of their grasp checklist.)

The EHR Affiliation mentioned that an efficient method should facilitate the sharing and trade of social threat information. Data captured in a single system must be seamlessly exchangeable with one other, enhancing worth on the level of care, the white paper mentioned. 

The white paper warns in opposition to mandating intensive screening for each group, as a result of it might place an extreme burden on clinicians, significantly in settings the place sources like case employees and social employees are restricted.

“The advised method is designed to accommodate a gradual transition towards extra widespread adoption of standardized screeners, in sync with the trade’s evolution and readiness to undertake these instruments,” the Process Pressure mentioned.