HITEQ Health Center Social Needs Screening Star
In recent years, health centers have become increasingly interested in and charged with not only addressing the health concerns of their patients, but centering and responding to patient’s social needs. Identifying and addressing unmet social needs as part of the clinical encounter provides the opportunity to deliver higher-quality, whole-person care, advance population health, and reduce healthcare costs.Despite recent momentum in the area of social needs screening, implementation at community health centers continues to be varied and uneven, and many are looking for guidance from peers on how to screen for social needs and respond to positive screens.

This badge is designed to support health centers by outlining promising practices for implementing their social need screening programs. To implement an integrated screening program that produces high-quality data, health centers must utilize digital health solutions and leverage their electronic health record (EHR). The resources in this badge share examples of these solutions in practice, and are designed to equip health centers with the information necessary to implement a screening program that limits burden on staff, is meaningful for patients and their care, and advances population health.

Take some time to read through some of the articles on this page and then fill out the submission form on the right and you will be rewarded with a Health Center Social Needs Screening Superstar badge! This is an official badge that is submitted by the HITEQ Center as a proof of completion to the blockchain. Your credentials can be added to profiles such as LinkedIn and verified through accreditation services such as Accredible and Open Badge.

 

Sensitive Information and the Electronic Patient Record

Sensitive Information and the Electronic Patient Record

HITEQ Center, June 2023

With nearly 100% of community health centers utilizing electronic health records (EHR) to care for patients, focus has pivoted from implementation and new workflow development to enhancement in order to drive value and reflect patient needs and population trends. EHR technology presents potential opportunities and significant constraints. Providers frequently document and share potentially sensitive information in the EHR, such as risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), consistent offers of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), or patient sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). Capturing such information can be immensely helpful in providing care tailored to individuals’ needs, but additionally challenges teams to develop workflows that keep the data private rather than risk harm to patients through improper or unintended disclosure.

This brief resource describes the risks and benefits of differing strategies to capture and steward sensitive information while emphasizing privacy and accessibility. These examples are shared to facilitate health center teams in developing workflows that are most appropriate for their settings and patient populations.

Download the resource in the Documents to Download Section below.

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Documents to download

Badge Submission Form