Improving Identification of Patients Experiencing Homelessness in the Electronic Health Record: A Curated Registry Approach.

Background: Identification of persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) within healthcare systems is critical to facilitate patient and population-level interventions to address health inequities.

Objective: We created an enhanced electronic health record (EHR) registry to improve identification of PEH within a safety net healthcare system.

Design: We compared patients identified as experiencing homelessness in 2021, stratified by method of identification (i.

The Role of Language in Hospital Admissions: The COVID-19 Experience in a Safety-Net Hospital Emergency Department.

Background: Emergency departments (EDs) are often patients' first point of contact with the health care system. Race, ethnicity, and language all influence factors leading up to ED visits and patient experiences within the ED. There is limited evidence showing how race, ethnicity, and language interact to shape ED experiences, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when EDs were extremely strained.

Using 42 CFR part 2 revisions to integrate substance use disorder treatment information into electronic health records at a safety net health system.

Background: Regulations put in place to protect the privacy of individuals receiving substance use disorder (SUD) treatment have resulted in an unintended consequence of siloed SUD treatment and referral information outside of the integrated electronic health record (EHR). Recent revisions to these regulations have opened the door to data integration, which creates opportunities for enhanced patient care and more efficient workflows. We report on the experience of one safety-net hospital system integrating SUD treatment data into the EHR.

Power Dynamics Perpetuate DEI Inaction: A Qualitative Study of Community Health Clinic Teams.

Purpose: Despite increased clinician awareness of systemic racism, lack of substantial action toward antiracism exists within health care. Clinical staff perspectives, particularly those of racial-ethnic minorities/persons of color (POC) who disproportionately occupy support staff roles with less power on the team, can yield insights into barriers to progress and can inform future efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI, also referred to as EDI) within health care settings. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of staff members on race and role power dynamics within community health clinic teams.

Leveraging Ethnic Backgrounds to Improve Collection of Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data.

Introduction: Healthcare disparities may be exacerbated by upstream incapacity to collect high-quality and accurate race, ethnicity, and language (REaL) data. There are opportunities to remedy these data barriers. We present the Denver Health (DH) REaL initiative, which was implemented in 2021.