This multi-phased initiative between Civitas Networks for Health (Civitas), Health Level Seven® International (HL7®) and AHIP aims to improve upon existing demographic data standards so that health care organizations can better identify disparities and inform culturally responsive care. Specifically, this program is focused on the refinement and enhancement of demographic questions and response choices proposed by AHIP’s Health Equity Workgroup after a multi-year, stakeholder-driven approach.
As part of the initial phase, this initiative brought a diverse set of stakeholders to the table by hosting a series of national focus groups to discuss questions and response choices for demographic domains including race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sex, gender, relationship status, pronouns, military experience, disability status, preferred language, and spiritual beliefs.
Subsequent phases of this program include psychometric testing of refined data elements and utilization of HL7’s established consensus building process for the development of data standards.
The overarching goal of this work is to modernize and enhance national demographic data content and exchange standards so that they are culturally sensitive, sufficiently granular, and aligned across stakeholders.
AHIP is the national association whose members provide health care coverage, services, and solutions to hundreds of millions of Americans every day. AHIP is committed to market-based solutions and public-private partnerships that make health care better and coverage more affordable and accessible for everyone. Visit www.ahip.org to learn more.
As a national, mission-driven nonprofit organization, Civitas Networks for Health brings together over 170 members with expertise in health improvement, health information exchange, and interoperability. Members include health information exchanges (HIEs), regional health improvement collaboratives (RHICs), all payer claims databases (APCDs), and quality improvement organizations (QIOs) that are bringing together health care providers, purchasers, payers, and patients to advance data-driven progress. Visit www.civitasforhealth.org to learn more.
Founded in 1987, Health Level Seven® International (HL7®) is a not-for-profit, ANSI-accredited standards-developing organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery, and evaluation of health services. HL7 is supported by more than 1,600 members from over 50 countries, including 500+ corporate members representing healthcare providers, government stakeholders, payers, pharmaceutical companies, vendors/suppliers, and consulting firms. Visit www.hl7.org to learn more.
As a key partner in the work to enhance demographic data standards, subject matter experts and consultants from HL7 presented a series of trainings on critical concepts and processes for the development and use of health data standards. These 101-level sessions were aimed at providing education on core topics related to standards development and health information exchange.
The first session, presented by Diego Kaminker, Deputy Chief Implementation Officer at HL7, introduced the concept of Fast Healthcare Information Resources (FHIR®) and discussed how certain policies are pivotal to driving standards development and adoption to advance critical healthcare interoperability efforts.
The second session, presented by Rita Torkzadeh and Jamie Parker, senior consultants, and digital health subject matter experts at AEGIS, introduced HL7’s processes that guide and promote development of consensus-based health information technology standards, including many that support national and global interoperability goals.
Funding Disclosure | Phase I of the Demographic Data Element Modernization (DEMo) Initiative was funded by AHIP, including the Phase 1 Report, which was conducted in collaboration with Civitas Networks for Health and Health Level Seven® International (HL7®).
