Occupational Electronic Health Records: Recommendations for the Design and Implementation of Information Systems in Occupational and Environmental Medicine Practice-ACOEM Guidance Statement

Objective: Occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) clinicians require specialized electronic health records (EHRs) to address the privacy, data governance, interoperability, and medical surveillance concerns that are specific to occupational health.

Methods: The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) Section of Health Informatics evaluated clinical workflow concerns, assessed health information requirements, and developed informatics recommendations through iterative consultation with ACOEM members.

Results: The ACOEM presents 10 recommendations that specialized occupational EHR systems (OEHRs) should meet to serve the information needs and practice requirements of OEM clinicians. Common challenges in OEM practice and potential informatics solutions are used to illustrate each recommendation.

Conclusions: The recommendations serve as a framework for occupational health clinicians to consider in their adoption of OEHRs and provide software engineers a set of requirements to facilitate the development and improvement of OEHRs.