Desired state to be achieved by a person or a person’s elections to guide care.

Data Element
Religious & Spiritual Preferences
Submitted By: Grace Cordovano / Enlightening Results
Data Element Information
Data Element Description Defines an individual's religious or spiritual preferences which helps to support whole-person care in the in-patient and out-patient settings as well as in the palliative and end-of-life care settings.
Use Case Description(s)
Use Case Description Religious and spiritual preferences can help to guide holistic care, especially in the in-patient, palliative care, and end-of-life care settings.

Religious and spiritual preferences can provide insights on how to best support patients and their families in regards to health literacy and understanding disease progression, understanding medication adherence, and best-supporting patients with additional tools, technology, and information they need in a culturally respectful manner to make informed decisions about care.
Estimate the breadth of applicability of the use case(s) for this data element Unknown
Healthcare Aims
  • Improving patient experience of care (quality and/or satisfaction)
  • Improving the health of populations
  • Reducing the cost of care
  • Improving provider experience of care
Maturity of Use and Technical Specifications for Data Element
Applicable Standard(s) N/A
Additional Specifications N/A
Current Use Not currently captured or accessed with an organization
Extent of exchange N/A
Potential Challenges
Restrictions on Standardization (e.g. proprietary code) Unknown
Restrictions on Use (e.g. licensing, user fees) Unknown
Privacy and Security Concerns Unknown
Estimate of Overall Burden Unknown
ONC Evaluation Details
Each submitted Data Element has been evaluated based on the following criteria. The overall Level classification is a composite of the maturity based on these individual criteria. This information can be used to identify areas that require additional work to raise the overall classification level and consideration for inclusion in future versions of USCDI
Criterion #1
Maturity - Current Standards		 Level 0 - Data element is not represented by a terminology standard or SDO-balloted technical specification or implementation guide.
Criterion #2
Maturity - Current Use 		Level 0 - Data element is captured, stored, or accessed in limited settings such as a pilot or proof of concept demonstration.
Criterion #3
Maturity - Current Exchange		 Level 0 - Data element is electronically exchanged in limited environments, such as connectathons or pilots.
Criterion #4
Use Case(s) - Breadth of Applicability		 Level 1 - Use cases apply to several care settings or specialties.
Evaluation Comment Assessed as a comment due to limited support for use case at this time.

Comment

Submitted by ubackonja@mitre.org on

PACIO: Rename and advance to Level 1

Recommendation: Advance this data element to Level 1 and rename to “Religious, Spiritual, and Cultural Preferences” by adding “Cultural to the name.

 

Rationale: Advancing the data element to a higher level and incorporating culture are important steps to support whole-person care across settings when care experience and treatment intervention preferences are not specified but are instead informed by religious, spiritual, and/or cultural beliefs of the individual being treated. This aligns with the desires of the US population, as well as guidance from healthcare organizations.

 

Current Standards: Level 2

  • Cultural beliefs, along with religious and spiritual beliefs, are captured in LOINC: 1364-2 “Religious or cultural beliefs Narrative - Reported“; 81365-9 “Religious or cultural affiliation contact to notify – Reported”; 99981-3 “Culture and demographics incorporated into plan of care”; 75776-5 “Preference on consulting a supportive and palliative care team to help treat physical, emotional, and spiritual discomfort and support family Narrative – Reported”
  • Cultural beliefs, along with religious and spiritual beliefs, are captured in the PACIO Project Advance Healthcare Directive Interoperability IG.
  • US Core Care Experience Preference Profile includes LOINC, "81364-2 (Religious or cultural beliefs [Reported])" as an example code to be captured in that profile.

 

Current Use: Level 2

 

Current Exchange: Level 2

  • MyDirectives A|D Vault Exchange allows for the exchange of captured religious, spiritual, and cultural preferences – this exchange “Processes more than 1.5 million queries every week” and is “Accessible by more than 90% of the U.S. healthcare ecosystem.”

 

Breadth of Applicability: Level 2

Submitted by ubackonja@mitre.org on

PACIO supports advancement to Level 1

  • Recommendation: The PACIO Project* community suggests advancing this data element to Level 1.
  • Rationale: This is important to support whole-person care across settings when care experience and treatment intervention preferences are not specified but are instead informed by religious and spiritual beliefs by the individual being treated.

* The PACIO (Post-Acute Care Interoperability) Project, established February 2019, is a collaborative effort between industry, government, and other stakeholders, that aims to advance interoperable health information exchange between post-acute care (PAC) providers, patients, and other key stakeholders across health care.

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