What is Occupational Data for Health (ODH) and why use it? The CDC’s NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health) and NACHC partnered with health centers to implement standardized occupational data codes and methods to collect Occupational Data for Health during intake and establish an electronic definition of “essential worker” for use in health centers. Health centers engaged in this effort learned that occupation, as a social driver of health, is an important piece of information for personalized care plans, population health management, and public health initiatives at workplaces – especially for essential workers.
This data can be especially important if the patient is an essential worker, as the Health Choice Network, a health center-controlled network based in Miami, and their partners at La Casa Family Health Center in New Mexico, learned during the COVID pandemic when treating a high-risk group of dairy farmworkers.
Related: View and download our Occupational Data for Health fact sheets in Spanish.
Also, listen to the Work as a Social Driver of Health: How La Casa Family Health Center Identifies Farmworkers podcast interview with Health Choice Network and La Casa Family Health Center.
