PROVIDENCE OREGON – The Providence family of organizations is deeply committed to reducing disparities in health care. That is why we are preparing to comply with a new state law designed to improve health equity, through the collection of more specific patient demographic data.
Starting this week, you will notice expanded choices in Epic related to race, ethnicity, language and disability (REALD), as well as sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI).
These categories now include:
- 82 race choices
- 7 ethnicity choices
- 11 sexual orientation choices
- 14 gender choices
Though the state of Oregon has not yet begun enforcing the new provisions, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the expanded choices and take advantage of the educational resources that have been created to support this change.
Because we recognize these types of questions can be sensitive, we are providing several resources to help make this a more supportive and affirming process. Additional educational tools are also in development.
Thank you for supporting our compliance efforts and for your ongoing commitment to our patients and to the health of everyone in our communities.
