The initiative led by Regenstrief Institute & HL7’s Gravity Project aims to unify SDOH data in EHR systems, receiving a $4.4M grant. Collaborating for four years, they strive to establish global standards, leveraging HL7 FHIR and open-source terminologies across 19 social risk domains. This partnership fosters integration with ONC and strategic implementation for comprehensive SDOH inclusion. Aiming to empower clinicians, the project envisions enhanced patient care addressing social needs. Standardizing SDOH data not only targets health disparity research but also holds promise for mitigating healthcare access disparities and improving patient outcomes, contributing significantly to addressing health inequity on a foundational level.
The Regenstrief Foundation has allocated a $4.4 million grant to drive a groundbreaking project in partnership with the Regenstrief Institute and HL7’s Gravity Project. This initiative aims to propel the standardization of social determinants of health (SDOH) data within Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, paving the way for enhanced health equity.
Led by LOINC and Health Data Standards at Regenstrief, alongside Health Level Seven (HL7) International’s Gravity Project, this four-year endeavor seeks to establish unified SDOH data standards across global EHR platforms.
At the core of this mission is the Gravity Project, an HL7 FHIR Accelerator guided by community input. It has introduced a widely recognized suite of open-source, standards-aligned terminologies covering 19 social risk domains, facilitating comprehensive care.
Marjorie Rallins, DPM, MS, the executive director of LOINC and Health Data Standards, expressed excitement about the strategic impact of this funding. She highlighted the potential collaboration with influential entities such as The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and HL7 International’s Gravity Project, expanding the integration of SDOH data into electronic health records.
Rallins emphasized the significance of this support, enabling broader collaboration and participation in addressing social determinants of health more comprehensively.
The primary objective of the project team is to establish a robust repository of standardized SDOH data elements. This effort aims to empower clinicians to address both the social and clinical needs of their patients more effectively.
Beyond clinical practice, standardizing SDOH data within EHRs holds the promise of catalyzing health disparity research. This standardization will enable evaluations of interventions aimed at mitigating healthcare access disparities, improving care delivery, and ultimately enhancing patient outcomes.
Dr. D. Craig Brater, President of the Regenstrief Foundation, stressed the foundational role of social determinants of health in influencing overall health outcomes. He highlighted the pervasive nature of health inequity and the pivotal role of standardizing social risk factors data within EHRs to tackle these challenges.
Regenstrief Institute’s international reputation for establishing health data standards positions it as an ideal leader for this crucial initiative, according to Brater.
The project will focus on developing data standards across various social risk domains, encompassing factors like neighborhood safety, access to green spaces, food availability, adverse childhood experiences, and more. These efforts aim to address these domains’ impact on health outcomes systematically.
Vanessa Candelora, Gravity Project program manager, expressed enthusiasm about collaborating with the LOINC and Health Data Standards team. She emphasized the collective drive toward a future where health and social care organizations seamlessly share vital information, ultimately advancing health equity and community health outcomes through standardized terminologies and technology.
The pioneering effort to standardize SDOH data within EHR systems, spearheaded by Regenstrief Institute and HL7’s Gravity Project, marks a significant leap toward healthcare equity. This collaborative endeavor, supported by a substantial grant, emphasizes the establishment of unified global standards across diverse social risk domains. By leveraging cutting-edge terminologies and fostering integration with influential entities, this initiative foresees an era where clinicians can comprehensively address patients’ social and clinical needs. Moreover, the standardized SDOH data not only drives health disparity research but also promises to mitigate healthcare access disparities and uplift patient outcomes, thereby combating health inequity at its core.
