The Joint Commission Joins White House Coalition for SDOH Data Collection

The Joint Commission has joined the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health’s Sync for Social Needs coalition, which aims to improve social determinants of health (SDOH) data collection.

The coalition of leading healthcare organizations and health IT vendors is working to integrate nutrition information within a patient’s EHR using the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) data standard.

SDOH can limit an individual’s access to nutritious foods. Americans who lack access to healthy food are disproportionately low-income, Black or Hispanic, or live in rural areas. Standardizing SDOH data collection and exchange is a critical step in the pursuit of health equity.

As the standards-setting organization for over 22,000 healthcare organizations, The Joint Commission is committed to working with participants to lower clinician burden of screening for SDOH.

“Health equity is among The Joint Commission’s highest priorities,” Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, MSHA, MACP, FACMI, The Joint Commission’s president and chief executive officer, said in a press release. “By standardizing the collection and sharing of social determinants of health data, clinicians can be better prepared to tailor a patient’s care to their environment, access, and abilities.”

“The Joint Commission looks forward to collaborating with some of the United States’ leading healthcare organizations to address the social determinants of health that contribute to food insecurity,” Perlin continued.

Other member organizations of the Sync for Social Needs coalition include the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), National Quality Forum, National Committee for Quality Assurance, HL7 International, Epic, Oracle-Cerner, Rush University System for Health, Tufts Medicine, Riverside Health System, SCAN Health Plan, Sanford Health, SSM Health, Higi, BayCare, Geisinger, MEDITECH, FindHelp, Wellsky, UniteUs, Graphite Health, Saffron Labs, and XanthosHealth.