New Expanded Patient Demographic Requirements

Valley Medical Center is committed to improving healthcare for all our diverse patients and families. Healthcare can be affected by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability status. It's important that we know who our patients are so we can provide the right care, in the right place, at the right time, every time.

Starting Jan. 1, 2023, regulatory agencies that govern hospital accreditation are requiring that hospitals collect expanded SOGI data (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity information), REaL data (Race, Ethnicity and Language), and disability status data for their patients. On Dec. 13, 2022, Valley's admitting and registration staff began asking all inpatients for this information and adding it to patients' charts. Valley will be expanding the process of collecting the expanded REaL and SOGI data to outpatient settings in mid- to late January 2023. (See FAQs.) Collecting this information allows us to better understand our diverse community members, and this knowledge allows us to better care for our community like family.

This information must be self-identified, will be part of patients' confidential medical record, and each patient's disclosure is voluntary. When our patients trust us with this personal information, it is our role to understand, honor, and respect our patients' identities.

• Check out the FAQs to understand and get comfortable with the new data you'll be seeing.
• Wondering about some of the new terms being added? See definitions.
• See the TiP sheet to look at the new EPIC SOGI smart form, view the steps for updating a patient's SOGI, and quick guides to understanding the new gender identity and sexual orientation definitions.