Assessing eHI’s guiding principles for ethical use of SDOH data during COVID-19

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Since then, health systems in the United States have been severely challenged by unprecedented demand. The pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of populations whose healthcare access, quality, and affordability are impacted by social determinants of health (SDOH). Many organizations use SDOH data to identify communities at risk of COVID-19. In 2019, eHealth Initiative (eHI) released the Guiding Principles for Ethical Use of Social Determinants of Health Data, which proposed recommendations for the ethical use of SDOH data by healthcare organizations. This report provides examples of organizations applying these principles as they address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Guiding Principles put forth an ethical framework for SDOH data, specifically focused on five principles: employing SDOH in care coordination; recognize risk through analytics; map resources and identify gaps; assess impact; and customize interventions and allow individuals to determine the best fit.