CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is seeking input on how patients' job data are included in their in electronic health records, according to a request for information published in the Federal Register, Modern Healthcare reports.
In the RFI, NIOSH asked primary care providers about whether they collect patients' occupation information, such as:
- The industry in which they have worked the longest;
- Current industry and title; and
- Work status.
NIOSH also asked primary care providers about how they incorporate such data into patients' EHRs.
In addition, NIOSH asked health IT vendors whether their EHR systems include fields for clinicians to enter occupation information and whether such data are coded.
NIOSH said it wants to improve health care providers' "understanding of work-related conditions so they can identify effective treatment and preventive strategies" (Selvam, Modern Healthcare, 6/27).