Social Determinants of Health Limited by Low EHR Interoperability

Health systems are attempting to implement social determinants of health (SDOH) into patient’s health records. Yet, most health systems are facing issues, such as interoperability, when attempting to incorporate SDOH into their respective EHRs. In fact, SDOH and behavioral health data are the most difficult types of information to share through health information exchanges (HIEs), according to a 2019 eHealth Initiative survey. A lack of consensus on standards for capturing and representing SDOH data creates barriers to its collection and use, as does navigating legal parameters for cross-sector information sharing,  wrote eHealth Exchange officials in the report.