ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS (EHRs) AND PATIENT WORK INFORMATION
Partners and Stakeholders
Stakeholder support for work information in EHRs
Public health and occupational health organizations recognize the potential for EHRs to improve patient care and public health, and have expressed support for the inclusion of work information in EHRs.
Institute of Medicine (IOM)
At the request of NIOSH, the National Academies of Science of the IOM assembled a committee to study the feasibility and rationale for including information about patient work, including patient occupation and industry of employment, in EHRs. In 2011, the IOM committee released “Incorporating Occupational Information in Electronic Health Records: A Letter Report” (ISBN # 978-0-309-21743-9) http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13207
American Public Health Association (APHA)
In 2012, APHA published a policy statement “Incorporating Occupational Information in Electronic Health Records” (policy #20127) http://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/11/16/27/incorporating-occupational-information-in-electronic-health-records
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE)
In 2012, CSTE published a position statement “Inclusion of Occupation and Industry as core data elements in Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems and in recommended elements in other minimum data sets.” (policy 12-OH-01)
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.cste.org/resource/resmgr/PS/12-OH-01FINAL.pdf
American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM)
In 2012, in a letter to the National Coordinator for Health IT, ACOEM called for the inclusion of information about patients’ work in ERHs.
http://www.acoem.org/Comments_OccupationalHealthDataStage3.aspx
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS)
In 2012, the NCVHS Subcommittee on Population Health recommended that occupation and industry should be implemented as key indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) in federal health surveys.
http://www.ncvhs.hhs.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/120622lt.pdf
DHHS U.S. Environmental Justice Strategy
The 2013 U.S. Environmental Justice Strategy and Implementation Plan advocates for incorporation of occupational and environmental history/exposure forms into the EHR.
- Page last reviewed: April 2, 2015
- Page last updated: December 3, 2015
- Content source:
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Respiratory Health Division