All posts in category SDOH

National Disability Employment Awareness Month: Prioritizing Accessibility in Digital Health Tools

By Tammy Coutts (MEDITECH), Chair, and Michael Blackman, MD, MBA (Greenway Health), Vice Chair, EHR Association SDOH and Health Equity Workgroup

Nearly a quarter of the U.S. population lives with a reported disability. And because many choose not to disclose their experiences, or face only temporary or situational challenges, that number is likely higher. The reality is, disability touches almost all of our lives at one point or another, which is why accessible EHR and patient portal design matters.

As the EHR Association closes out its observation of National Disability Employment Awareness Month 2026, themed “Celebrating Value and Talent,” we honor the contributions of talented healthcare professionals, reflect on the journey toward inclusion, and recognize the role EHR developers play in advancing social determinants of health (SDOH) and health equity by prioritizing accessibility in digital health tools.

Reinforcing our commitment to accessible solutions for all users, EHRA’s SDOH & Health Equity Workgroup has published the Mobile Accessibility Checklist, which shares real-world scenarios tailored specifically to mobile device users and offers an actionable checklist for supporting healthcare professionals using mobile products.

Reinforcing our commitment to accessible solutions for all users, EHRA’s SDOH & Health Equity Workgroup has published the Mobile Accessibility Checklist, a supplement to its Accessibility Checklist that shares real-world scenarios tailored specifically to mobile device users. It also offers an actionable checklist for supporting healthcare professionals using mobile products.

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by EHR Association on October 30, 2026  •  Permalink
Posted in Usability and Clinician Experience, Health Equity, SDOH
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Posted by EHR Association on October 30, 2026

https://ehrablog.org/2026/10/30/national-disability-employment-awareness-month-prioritizing-accessibility-in-digital-health-tools/

Recommendations for Capturing Social Determinants

By Janet Campbell (Epic), Chair, EHR Association Social Determinants of Health & Health Equity Task Force

A patient’s risk within social determinant of health (SDOH) domains is typically assessed by social care or healthcare professionals through either conversation or use of standard screening questionnaires or validated testing instruments. The challenge, however, is a lack of consensus on which specific domains should be assessed for patients, and how they should be assessed.

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by EHR Association on May 14, 2024  •  Permalink
Posted in SDOH
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Posted by EHR Association on May 14, 2024

https://ehrablog.org/2024/05/14/recommendations-for-capturing-social-determinants/

Global Health Equity Week: Bridging Healthcare Disparities Through Technology and Policy Advocacy

By EHR Association SDOH & Health Equity Task Force

Global Health Equity Week, October 23 – 27, 2023, is a week of action that seeks to spotlight the transformative capabilities of health information and technology in reshaping healthcare, reducing health disparities, and improving access to healthcare for all communities. As part of its mission to improve the quality and efficiency of care through innovative, interoperable health IT adoption and use, the EHR Association continues to appeal to lawmakers and national regulators in support of expanding access to telehealth, addressing social determinants of health (SDOH), and increasing interoperability between healthcare providers and community-based organizations (CBOs).

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by EHR Association on October 24, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Health Equity, SDOH, Telehealth
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Posted by EHR Association on October 24, 2023

https://ehrablog.org/2023/10/24/global-health-equity-week-bridging-healthcare-disparities-through-technology-and-policy-advocacy/

Scoring is a Primary Concern with CORE’s proposed ASN eCQM

By Toni Wilken (Meditech), Vice Chair, Quality Measures Workgroup

Creation of the proposed Addressing Social Needs (ASN) electronic quality measure (eCQM) supports the important goal of addressing an unmet need in patient care by helping to improve screening and coordination with local and community-based resources. However, the EHR Association has identified several issues with the measure as proposed by its developer, Yale New Haven Health Services Corporation–Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE), which we shared recently in our response to CORE’s call for comments.

ASN eCQM

Briefly, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) engaged CORE to develop a re-designed measure to evaluate how well hospitals were screening for and following up on the social needs of their patients. The result was the ASN eCQM, which is designed to measure screening of patients for social needs within four domains – food insecurity, housing insecurity, utility insecurity, and transportation insecurity – as well as if an intervention activity is performed. 

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by EHR Association on August 14, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in SDOH, Uncategorized
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Posted by EHR Association on August 14, 2023

https://ehrablog.org/2023/08/14/scoring-is-a-primary-concern-with-cores-proposed-asn-ecqm/

SDOH and Health Equity Task Force

By Janet Campbell (Epic), Chair, SDOH & Health Equity Task Force

Recognizing an important opportunity for the EHR Association to be a proactive leader in the burgeoning and increasingly critical field of social determinants of health (SDOH) and health equity, the Association has kicked off its recently established SDOH & Health Equity Task Force. 

EHRs have revolutionized the healthcare industry and even how care is delivered. But the practice of addressing social risks and delivering care equitably varies widely across organizations. Thus the role of the EHR  – and therefore the role of health IT developers – remains largely undefined. The potential for EHRs to advance SDOH and health equity is significant, including the proactive collection of demographic and determinant data, segmenting quality reports to uncover disparities, and facilitating prompt closed-loop community-based organization (CBO) referrals. 

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by EHR Association on July 2, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in EHRA News, SDOH
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Posted by EHR Association on July 2, 2023

https://ehrablog.org/2023/07/02/sdoh-and-health-equity-task-force/

SDOH and Health Equity: Summarizing the EHRA Congressional Briefing – Part 2

Ambulatory and Health System Perspectives

By EHRA Public Policy Leadership Workgroup

Part one of this two-part blog series summarized insights around SDOH and health equity from the developer and community perspectives, which were shared during the recent virtual Congressional Briefing hosted by EHRA’s Public Policy Leadership Workgroup. Part two shares the ambulatory and health system perspectives. The presentation slides and full briefing (passcode: H@R$UZ02) are available in the “Positions and Statements” section of EHRA’s website. 

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by EHR Association on October 27, 2021  •  Permalink
Posted in Case Studies and Personal Stories, Delivery System Reform, Health Equity, Health IT Standards, Interoperability, Public Policy and Health IT, SDOH, Value of HIT
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Posted by EHR Association on October 27, 2021

https://ehrablog.org/2021/10/27/ambulatory-and-health-systems-summarizing-the-ehra-congressional-briefing/

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