Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Patient Work Information
Electronic health records (EHRs) have replaced paper medical records in most medical environments, but EHRs typically do not contain information about a patient’s work history.
Work history is considered a social determinant of health (SDOH). Including patient work history in EHRs and other health information systems can help healthcare providers and related organizations to:
- Determine the most appropriate healthcare for their patients.
- Identify groups of patients who may be at risk for harmful exposures or health problems.
- Recognize patients who may benefit from specific interventions to reduce risk of injury or illness or improve health.
- Identify opportunities for illness and injury prevention and health promotion.
NIOSH develops tools and explores best practices that support work information in EHRs. NIOSH also collaborates with federal, state and other partners to ensure that EHRs can be used to improve and track the health of workers.
- Free ACOEM webinarexternal icon on incorporating occupational data into infectious disease case reports and EHRs: Wednesday, August 5 from 1-2:30pm EDT.
- New publication posted in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: Opportunities at the Intersection of Work and Health: Developing the Occupational Data for Health Information Modelexternal icon
- ONC Releases National Health IT Priorities for Research: A Policy and Development Agendaexternal icon.
- The HL7 & EHR-System Functional Model, Work and Health Functional Profile informative document is available at https://www.hl7.orgexternal icon.
- The HL7 V2.9 Message Standard includes segments and vocabulary for ODH and is available at: http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/product_brief.cfm?product_id=51external icon.
- The HL7 CDA® R2 Implementation Guide: Consolidated CDA Templates for Clinical Notes; Occupational Data for Health Release 1 – US Realm, Standard for Trial Use is available at http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/product_brief.cfm?product_id=522external icon. This template, in IHE format, was officially successfully tested at the IHE North America Connectathon! For an overview of the IHE Connectathon, see: https://www.iheusa.org/ihe-connectathon-overviewexternal icon.
- The HL7 FHIR Profile: Occupational Data for Health (ODH), Release 1.0 (Standard for Trial Use) is available at: http://hl7.org/fhir/us/odh/STU1/external icon. The ODH FHIR template was unofficially tested for demonstrations and is available for testing at the IHE Connectathon next year.
- The use of ODH in interoperability will be demonstrated in several storylines during the virtual NACCHO 360X Meeting July 7-9, 2020 —more information coming soon!
- Institutes of Medicine (IOM) – Incorporating Occupational Information in Electronic Health Recordsexternal icon
- Office of National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC)external icon
- HL7external icon
- IHE Internationalexternal icon
- Digital Bridgeexternal icon
- CSTE Case Reporting (RCKMS)external icon
- National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS)
- NNDSS Modernization Initiative (NMI)
- Adapting Clinical Guidelines for the Digital Age
- Public Health Surveillance and Data
In order to better serve the public and the scientific and educational communities, all comments and suggestions to improve this site are welcomed. Please also let us know what information from this site was useful to you and why. E-mail us at EHRs_and_Work@CDC.gov.