EMI Advisors and CDC to Develop Public Health Business and Use Cases for Social Determinants of Health Data
WASHINGTON, DC; Nov. 1, 2021 — EMI Advisors is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Office of Informatics and Information Resource Management, to inform and develop a public health Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) data sharing and interoperability Business Case and Use Case. This effort is critical for accelerating public health agencies' abilities to scale the use of SDOH data for prevention and control of chronic diseases and reduction of health disparities.
The collection, exchange, and integration of SDOH data into existing electronic health record (EHR) systems is foundational to addressing the impacts of SDOH on individuals. Studies have demonstrated that chronic conditions are closely tied to SDOH, and as much as 80 percent of health outcomes can be attributed to physical environments, socioeconomic conditions, behaviors, and genetic predisposition. This information is difficult to collect and exchange in existing EHR systems and current initiatives do not address the type of integration needed to scale SDOH data collection in EHRs for public health use.
The SDOH Public Health Business Case and Use Case initiative will be a significant leap toward enabling the use of integrated SDOH data for more meaningful outcome analyses and improved care delivery. The Office of Informatics and Information Resource Management in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion is well-positioned to inform and incentivize cross-sector SDOH data alignment to accelerate public health agencies’ capabilities to address SDOH and advance health equity at individual, community, and population levels.
“Through this important work we hope to better understand the data landscape around Social Determinants of Health—the conditions in which people are born, live, learn, work, and play,” said Timothy Carney, PhD, MPH, MBA, Associate Director for Informatics in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “This effort will help us identify the barriers, challenges, and opportunities for data connectivity, and can ultimately assist public health decision makers in their efforts to eliminate health disparities and achieve optimal health for all Americans.”
The SDOH Public Health Business Case and Use Case initiative will be informed by the Gravity Project, a national public collaborative effort co-founded by EMI Advisors LLC that is developing structured data standards to help reduce barriers for documenting and exchanging social risk and protective factors within the health care enterprise and with other sectors.
“The SDOH data standards developed through the Gravity Project serve as the foundation for the representation of SDOH data across and in between health and public health,” says Evelyn Gallego, CEO of EMI Advisors LLC and Program Manager for the Gravity Project. “Not only do we need to create the language so these systems can speak to each other, we also need to ensure this language is accurate, timely, accessible, and useful for public health professionals driving targeted actions to address regions and populations that have poor health or are at high risk for poor health. We are honored to support the CDC in this important national effort to advance SDOH data use for public health.”
This initiative will be facilitated through a public sub workgroup launching in Spring 2022 under the Gravity Project.
About EMI Advisors
EMI Advisors is recognized as a national expert in health IT policy, data interoperability, and multi-sector collaboration. Learn more at www.emiadvisors.net.
For more information about CDC NCCDPHP, please visit: www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease
For more information about the Gravity Project, please visit: www.thegravityproject.net