A new study by the American Association for the Management of Health Information aims to better understand the operating reality of how social factors determine health data used in healthcare situations. health in the real world, showing a lack of standardization, inadequate training, and limited interdisciplinary use.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
Research conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago surveyed more than 2,600 AHIMA members and non-members from a pool of 41,000 potential respondents between August 24 and September 9, 2022.
Respondents include coding experts; department head, director, vice president of health information management; HIM team members and executives.
SDOH data can provide additional insights to help enrich clinical decision-making and improve health outcomes. It includes the conditions in the environment in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship and age that affect a wide range of health and quality of life outcomes and risks. .
Analysis of survey data revealed a lack of standardization and integration of data into patient medical records – even when data is collected within the organization, AHIMA said.
According to the researchers, other key findings include inadequate training and education on how to capture, collect, encrypt and use SDOH data, as well as limited use of the data for communication. between health care providers and community-based referral organizations.
According to Wylecia Wiggs Harris, executive director of AHIMA, policymakers, suppliers and key stakeholders can come up with comprehensive solutions to address the challenges outlined in the survey. This.
“Although countless changes are needed, focusing on documenting these needs and translating those needs into encrypted data for use,” the researchers said in the research report. Being able to do it is fundamental.”
AHIMA’s four policy recommendations include:
- Develop a set of standardized, clinically valid, and actionable SDOH data elements for collection.
- Encourage SDOH data collection.
- Expand federal technical and financial support to train suppliers and operators on the best ways to collect, codify, and use information about societal needs.
- Federal funding, resources, and infrastructure to support coordination and connectivity at the state and local levels between healthcare and care organizations.
Despite having a “limited number” of key partnerships, the study found that the top two ways organizations use SDOH data is to refer patients, the researchers said. CBO and identify and assess needs at the community level.
“Health care systems and CBOs need better alignment on the core SDOH standards that are harmonized across platforms,” they said.
“They also need validated tools and processes to support closed-loop referrals that demonstrate positive health outcomes and return on investment in SDOH interventions.”
TREND TO BIGGER WOMAN
Rahul Sharma, CEO of HSBlox, a social determinant of a health platform provider.
I said Healthcare IT News overcoming SDOH data challenges is a matter of “digitizing data, creating longitudinal health profiles for patients on different datasets for better prediction and risk score analysis, and at the same time ensure that data is shared only on an authorized and secure basis.”
Experts from Unite Us, a company that builds coordinated care networks of health and social service providers, say technologies can bring standardized approaches to healthcare services. industry to safely coordinate and work together is crucial, and 2023 could bring progress in SDOH technology.
ON PROFILE
“The effective collection, encoding, and use of SDOH data is critical to improving health and healthcare outcomes,” Wiggs Harris said in the statement.
“Health information professionals play a pivotal role in how SDOH data is collected, shared, and ultimately used to improve health and healthcare outcomes.”
Andrea Fox is the senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
