Collecting REALD

What is REALD?

REALD is a type of demographic information, like age, marital status, employment and more. REALD stands for the types of information it includes: Race, Ethnicity, Language, Disability.

REALD is an effort to increase and standardize race, ethnicity, language, and disability data collection across the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). Data collection was advanced through the passage of House Bill (HB) 2134 during the 2013 legislative session and Oregon Administrative Rules (Chapter 943, Division 70). REALD includes a set of standardized categories and questions. REALD data must be collected in OHA and DHS datasets and by contractors of OHA and DHS.

In 2020, Oregon legislature (House Bill 4212) directed the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to adopt rules requiring health care providers to collect and report to OHA data on Race, Ethnicity, Language and Disability (REALD) during all health care encounters for reportable COVID-19 conditions: cases, positive and negative tests, hospitalizations, deaths and Multi-inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C).

For COVID-19 questions, REALD Reporting for COVID-19 Encounters for more information.

Why We Ask

REALD data collection and reporting requirements helps the state understand which communities are most impacted by communicable disease, so they can get more funding and services. For example, if we learn that there is a higher burden of disease within one group, we can work to ensure that group gets more testing, funding, and resources.

REALD for ACDP

The Acute and Communicable Disease Prevention (ACDP) section works to identify how we promote equal opportunity to achieve the highest attainable level of health for all populations. The purpose of this page is to provide guidance on Race, Ethnicity, Language, and Disability (REALD) as it relates to our communicable disease systems OPERA/ORPHEUS.

REALD is located in the person record in Orpheus and Opera. The REALD questions are required to be asked by the case investigator or epidemiologist investigating the case. Guidance on how to ask the questions can be found in the resources section of this page.