SDOH Clinical Care
1.0.0 - STU 1

This page is part of the SDOH Clinical Care for Multiple Domains (v1.0.0: STU 1) based on FHIR R4. The current version which supercedes this version is 2.0.0. For a full list of available versions, see the Directory of published versions

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Overview

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) are increasingly being recognized as essential factors that influence healthcare outcomes. This HL7 Implementation Guide (IG) defines how to exchange SDOH content defined by the Gravity Project using the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard. It defines how to represent coded content used to support the following care activities: screening, clinical assessment/diagnosis, goal setting, and the planning and performing of interventions. This IG addresses the need to gather SDOH information in multiple settings, share that information between stakeholders, and exchange referrals between organizations to address specific social risk needs, all with appropriate patient consent. In addition, the IG demonstrates how to share clinical data to support secondary purposes such as population health, quality, and research. The guide supports the following use cases:

  • Document SDOH data in conjunction with the patient encounters with providers, payers, and community services
  • Document and track SDOH related interventions to completion
  • Identify cohorts of individuals that have a common relationship to another entity (e.g., covered by the same payer)

This implementation guide was developed by the Gravity Project, which specifically focuses on using HL7 FHIR to define standards for the exchange of SDOH-related information. Both the project and this implementation guide are focused on the U.S. environment. This implementation guide leverages content from the US Core implementation guide and binds to US-specific terminology. However, the basic constructs and interaction patterns may well be applicable outside the U.S.

Content and organization

The implementation guide is organized into the following sections:

Note to Implementers

Implementers should pay specific attention to the following sections: