Social determinants of health (SDOH) data refers to the conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play and affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes. An integral part of health care delivery involves understanding these social and environmental factors of patients’ lives outside of the health care system. Addressing inequities in these conditions, supported in part through the access and use of SDOH data, can help to eliminate health disparities and to improve individual and population health. Advancing the use and interoperability of SDOH data is a priority for ONC consistent with our mission to improve the health and well-being of all individuals and communities using health information that is electronically accessible when and where it matters most. ONC focuses on four key areas for using health IT to advance the interoperability and use of SDOH data: standards and data; infrastructure; policy; and, implementation.
ONC Standards and Certification
- ONC Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA)
- 2015 Certification Edition
- United States Core Data for Interoperability
- ONC Health IT Standards to Watch
- ONC Standards Bulletin
- Advancing Interoperable Social Determinants of Health Data
ONC Spotlight on Recent Projects and Activities
- ONC Leap Grants
- Advancing SDOH Health IT Enabled Tools and Data Interoperability- eCDS and Data Tagging
- Public Health Emergency Response Related HL7® Standards, Solutions and Future Pandemics
- Advancing Standards for Precision Medicine
- ONC Tech Forum: Tech in the Continuum of Care
- Advancements in Interoperability of Social Determinants of Health Data (August 2020)
- Interoperability to Support Care, Community Information Exchange and Referrals (August 2020)
- ONC Advancing Interoperability: Social Determinants of Health Workshop (September 2020)
- 2020-2025 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan
- ONC Health IT Playbook
HHS and SDOH Health IT Standards
- Innovative Technology Solutions for Social Care Referrals Challenge Grant (ACL)
- Electronic Long-Term Services & Supports (ONC and CMS)
- Advancing Standards for Precision Medicine (ONC and NIH)
- Multiple Chronic Conditions eCare Plan Project (Administration for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK))
- Bidirectional Services electronic Referral (BSeR) (CDC)
HHS and SDOH Activities
- Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
- Administration for Community Living (ACL)
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
- Census Bureau
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP)
- National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Office of Minority Health (OMH)
- Chief Information Office (CIO)
- Center for Medicare (CM)
- Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)
- Center for Medicaid and CHIP services (CMCS)
- State Medicaid Director Letter
- Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- National Institute of Health Division of Extramural Affairs
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
- National Library of Medicine (NLM)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH)
- Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
- Office of Minority Health (OMH)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
- Office of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
- Roundtable on Leveraging Data on the Social Determinants of Health Summary Report
- Fight Covid-19 with SDOH Data
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Stakeholder Resources and Health IT Activities
Associations and Specialty Societies
- American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
- American College of Physicians (ACP)
- American Medical Associations (AMA)
- American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)
- American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)
- Association of Women’s Health and Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN)
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Inc. (HIMSS) SDOH Task Force
- National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
States and State Organizations
- Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
- National Academy of State Health Policy
- National Alliance to Impact the Social Determinants of Health
Standards Development Organizations and Initiatives
- Gravity Project
- HL7 Human and Social Services Work Group
- Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)
- 360X and SDOH Referrals
- Open Referral
- Regenstrief Institute
- Direct Human Services ix4hs
Non-Profit and For-Profit Organizations and Academia
- Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE)
- National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (National Academies)
- National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
- National Quality Forum (NQF)
- Open Notes
- University San Francisco – Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network
- Compendium of Medical Terminology Codes for Social Risk Factors