This multi-phased program is a partnership between Civitas Networks for Health (Civitas), HL7 International (HL7) and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and is aimed at improving 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, program partners have worked together to bring a diverse set of stakeholders to the table by hosting a series of national virtual 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.
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.
