CDC SDOH Workgroup Identifies Public Health Use Cases

A Centers for Disease Control workgroup has developed a social determinants of health (SDOH) public health business case and has designed three public health-focused use cases for chronic disease prevention and health promotion that extend on those developed for clinical care by the HL7 Gravity Project. The CDC’s Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Public Health Use Case Workgroup convened and collaborated with industry experts including federal, state, and local multi-sector partners, to advance SDOH data exchange for chronic disease prevention and health promotion. “As we see screening going on for social needs within the healthcare system, with the data being collected in electronic health records, we felt that it was important to be at the table, and to be developing the public health use cases about how this information on social determinants of health on social needs could be interpreted by public health and used by public health for decision-making,” she said. The business case developed for the initiative notes that it is “challenging for partners such as public health agencies, providers, and policymakers to access and thereby act on data about an individual’s or community’s social determinants.