Health IT Agency Adds Social Needs to Patient Data Guidelines (1)

Electronic health record systems could soon begin capturing information on housing, transportation, nutrition, and other social needs under an update to federal standards announced Friday by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

A new version of the United States Core Data for Interoperability—which specifies the data EHR systems should be able to capture and exchange—will include for the first time data elements for a patient’s social determinants of health, sexual orientation, and gender identity, said Micky Tripathi, national coordinator for health information technology at the Department of Health and Human Services.

The update is part of ...