HITEQ Resources & Events

The Social Determinants of Health Data Dashboards training is a four module series. Modules range from about 8 minutes to 12 minutes in length. Module one provides an introduction to the role of screening and collecting data on social determinants of health, identifying social determinants of health measures and using data effectively, and assessing organizational data dashboard capability. Subsequent modules provide beginner, intermediate and advanced level considerations and examples for social determinants of health data dashboards. 

Now more than ever, health centers know that addressing social determinants of health is key to ensuring patients from underserved and disadvantaged groups receive quality, informed, and comprehensive care. This resource explores how health centers can effectively and safely collect critical patient information, including sensitive information like social need screening, through digital patient intake solutions that rely on paper-free, data-smart registration and EHR integration. Health centers can walk through why adding these solutions to their clinics can engage rather than alienate patients, and how to implement these technologies to screen for social risk and improve the patient experience.

The resource is available in the Documents to Download section below.

Although health centers have more options than ever to use electronic tools to engage patients in care, selecting those that most effectively further the goal of providing high-quality and efficient patient care is challenging. In this explainer, we consider three types of tools that health centers may invest in: Remote Patient Monitoring, Electronic Patient Engagement, and mHealth Personal Apps. By understanding what they are and how they are implemented, their advantages and disadvantages, and how they align with value-based care and the clinical workflow, health centers can choose the suite of tools that best serve their patient needs.

As medical care facilities seek to support patient safety and be responsive to their complete medical needs and histories, health centers also recognize that establishing an infrastructure for data sharing must be a top priority. Better practices for Health Information Exchange (HIE) increase patient wellbeing by giving providers more complete information for clinical decision making, eliminating unnecessary procedures and tests, reducing the burden of paperwork, and lowering costs. In 2020, HITEQ interviewed five groups that implemented clinical data sharing infrastructure in health care settings, including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). A set of example use cases were developed from these interviews, and we identified ten themes that may help guide other organizations interested in implementing HIE. Information from 1424 qualified health centers and health center look-alikes from the CY2019 Uniform Data Set also informed the current impact of data sharing, indicating that technology and potential workflows exist to support HIE within FQHCs.

View the key considerations gleaned from this research to identify lessons learned related to establishing HIE within a health center setting. The resource is available in the Documents to Download section below.

This Excel-based scoring rubric is intended to be used by health centers to assess electronic patient engagement tools (like automated outreach SMS platforms) to determine which tool is most likely to meet the health center's needs.