Capturing Social and Behavioral Domains and Measures in Electronic Health Records

Date of Review: February, 2020

This report outlines the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations for capturing social and behavioral data within electronic health records. This resource synthesizes the perspectives of clinicians, public health practitioners, and information technology experts to provide a comprehensive backdrop of EHR integration challenges. Core domains and measures are identified for each SDH topic, as well as implementation guidelines. While this 345-page resource is wide-ranging and robust, educators may want to assign specific chapters as they relate to specific social determinants of health, including sexual orientation, education, unemployment, stress, financial resource strain, social isolation, and exposure to violence. —Katy Wright, PhD, NCEAS