3 Conditions that Must be Met to Make Interoperability a Reality

3 Conditions that Must be Met to Make Interoperability a Reality

The term “interoperability” holds different meanings for different people. While we all would agree that the primary goal of interoperability is to make sharing data easier in order to improve outcomes and lower costs, there are varying perceptions about what that looks like. FHIR has been great at giving us a common set of protocols and standards to work from, but how we connect and how data actually gets shared are still open challenges.
In a truly interoperable healthcare ecosystem, I strongly believe data wouldn’t need to be requested, aggregated, and validated each time it’s needed. And it wouldn’t be limited to specific…

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EHR-based SDOH Screening Accuracy Falls Short for Housing Instability

EHR-based SDOH Screening Accuracy Falls Short for Housing Instability

– EHR-based social determinant of health (SDOH) screening questionnaires under identified patients with housing instability and financial strain compared to single-domain screening tools, according to a study published in JAMA. Public health, healthcare delivery organizations, federal agencies, and researchers have advocated for better collection of patient SDOH data. Social factors can influence referrals to community partners, increase awareness of patient needs, measure population health, and improve risk prediction models. Popular EHR platforms include multidomain screening questionnaires assessing SDOH. Researchers evaluated the accuracy of EHR-based questionnaires using single-domain questionnaires on food insecurity, housing instability, and financial strain as external standards. The study…

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2021 Annual Meeting: SDOH Information Exchange Innovation, Referrals, Consent, and Equity

2021 Annual Meeting: SDOH Information Exchange Innovation, Referrals, Consent, and Equity

March 29, 2021This session will explore innovative efforts for SDOH information exchange and interoperable referrals, along with considerations for consent and equity. The session will highlight initiatives from1) CyncHealth, describing the use of HIE to enhance SDOH collaboration in Nebraska2) San Diego Health Connect, noting relevant take-aways from their 2019 LEAP Project for consent and reducing health disparities3) Ohio Health Information Partnership, describing their efforts on SDOH referrals4) Bronx RHIO, discussing community-based health IT efforts to address SDOH, and5) The Gravity Project to provide an update on progress toward SDOH core data for interoperability and standards-based information exchange.Brett Andriesen, ONC, ModeratorElizabeth…

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