Precision Medicine News

ONC Projects Aim to Standardize SDOH Data for Precision Medicine

As part of the Precision Medicine Initiative, ONC is seeking to standardize the collection of social determinants of health data.

ONC aims to standardize social determinants of health data for precision medicine

Source: Thinkstock

By Jessica Kent

- The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) is working to standardize the collection of social determinants of health data to help advance precision medicine and inform new treatments.

Information about individuals’ social determinants of health (SDOH) can provide clinicians with a more comprehensive picture of patient health, ONC noted, but analyzing this data for new insights is not always an easy task.

“We know SDOH—the conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play—impact our health, delivery of care, and coordination of services in many ways,” Kevin Chaney, MGS; Tracy Okubo, PMP; Ida Sim, PhD, MD and Teresa Zayas Caban wrote in a blog post.

“However, SDOH data are often captured outside the healthcare setting, and this information is not shared consistently during the course of care.”

The increasing use of sensors and wearables allows patients, caregivers, and clinicians to monitor health status and adjust treatments as needed. To better facilitate the sharing and use of mobile, sensor, and wearable data, ONC is collaborating with Open mHealth, an initiative that has worked to harmonize mobile, sensor, and wearable data with the HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard.

ONC will also partner with Personal Health Alliance, Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise International, HL7, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers as part of the project.

The new project aims to standardize the collection and sharing of remotely collected vital sign data. ONC will collaborate with relevant stakeholders to validate the technical ability to share vital sign data through the Open mHealth pathway.

“Open mHealth is excited to work with ONC to advance specifications for open mobile health data standards and the use of open standardized application programming interfaces (APIs). As we develop schemas, we are also actively compatible with FHIR to serve both the health IT and the broader technology communities,” said Ida Sim, founder of Open mHealth.

ONC is also aiming to standardize the collection of SDOH data through the Advancing Standards for Precision Medicine project. The project leverages digital tools and questionnaires to advance the standardized collection of non-clinical data.

ONC is collaborating with Fenway Health and athenahealth to encode patient reported outcomes (PROs), which often contain social determinants information using the HL7 FHIR PRO implementation guide. These elements can include housing, transportation, food security, and income. Researchers will capture this data via an assessment tool using the IHE Assessment Collection and Data Capture (ACDC) profile.

“This profile allows developers to provide healthcare teams with digital instruments, tools, and questionnaires using a common interface to support exchange of standardized SDOH data elements,” the authors wrote.

“Demonstrating standardized data capture for one assessment tool will help establish the technical feasibility of using a common standard to represent assessment results.”

The Advancing Standards for Precision Medicine project will enhance ACDC development and implementation, as well as SDOH capture. The project will also build on ONC’s effort to advance precision medicine research and develop electronically captured, used, and interoperable SDOH data.

“Ultimately, the Advancing Standards for Precision Medicine project aims to expand the kinds of data that can be integrated into EHRs, creating a more complete picture of patients’ health status and outcomes,” the authors concluded.

“This information can help researchers make new discoveries and help providers deliver more personalized, effective, and coordinated care.”