Washington, DC; Mar 7, 2023 — EMI Advisors announced today that it was awarded $250K in contracts to support the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) with interoperability and data infrastructure projects. The nine-month engagement will focus on advancing social determinants of health (SDOH) data use and interoperability, developing education and outreach materials to promote better SDOH information exchange, and reviewing and refining ONC’s internal procurement policies.

“These projects are critical to coordinating nationwide efforts around social care integration activities and will enable cohesive progress on shared goals in this area,” says Evelyn Gallego, CEO and Founder at EMI Advisors. “We are honored to continue our partnership with ONC to build capacity for advancing the development and use of health IT capabilities.”

The SDOH Technical Integration Framework Project includes developing a tool that guides various interoperability stakeholders to successfully advance SDOH data use and interoperability for health IT integration projects. EMI will also be completing a technical crosswalk of the Health Level Seven (HL7®) Electronic Long-Term Services and Supports (eLTSS) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) Implementation Guide (IG) to the Gravity Project’s HL7 SDOH Clinical Care (CC) FHIR IG. The goal of these deliverables is to improve health equity across data sharing initiatives.

The SDOH Information Exchange Learning Forum Project builds on the recent publication of the Social Determinants of Health Information Exchange Toolkit completed by ONC in partnership with EMI. EMI will now support ONC’s webinar series and convene healthcare providers, community-based organizations, government, payers, health information exchange networks, IT platform developers, innovators, and other stakeholders to share lessons learned, challenges, and promising practices for exchanging SDOH data.

ONC’s Procurement Policy Support Project relates to areas of contract procurement and interagency agreement life cycles within ONC. EMI will support ONC’s Procurement & Grants Division (PGD) to develop work aides that enable more streamlined ONC’s internal procurement processes, ensure compliance with federal regulations, and promote transparency and interagency accountability.

“A key to successful, real-world IT solutions and implementations in the health and social care ecosystem is learning and improving from experiences in the field,” said EMI Senior Health Equity Manager, Jillian Annunziata. “These projects are critical to capturing lessons learned and insights from applied expertise to disseminate them in the form of guidance, policies, and resources for implementors and stakeholders using IT to improve the health and well-being of people.”

About EMI Advisors

EMI Advisors is a management consulting firm that assists health and human services organizations and technology solution providers in aligning technology, innovation, and business strategy to achieve optimal social and health care for all. We provide services that help our clients develop the right strategies to facilitate the development and delivery of value-driven solutions. EMI is an SBA 8(a) certified Economically & Socially Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business. We love what we do and who we do it for. We are passionate about optimizing the delivery of strategic solutions and how information is used. Learn more at emiadvisors.net and connect with us on social media.

• To learn more about the ONC SDOH activities, view the ONC SDOH website.

• To learn more about the ONC SDOH Information Exchange Toolkit and Learning Forum, read the ONC Blog Post and register for upcoming webinars in the series here.

• To learn more about the ONC SDOH Technical Integration Framework Project, register for the March 13, 2023 public listening session here.