Center of Excellence in Newcomer Health

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Contact Info
Refugee Health Program
651-201-5414
refugeehealth@state.mn.us

Contact Info

Refugee Health Program
651-201-5414
refugeehealth@state.mn.us

Clinical Decision Tools: Minnesota Center of Excellence in Newcomer Health

Centers of Excellence in Newcomer Health Minnesota

On this page:
MN COE Connect
Clinical decision support for newcomer health
Adaptable electronic medical record (EMR) language list
CDC's NHSN abridged primary language list

The Minnesota Center of Excellence in Newcomer Health (MN COE) leverages existing infrastructure and relationships with partners to enhance and disseminate tools for clinicians working with refugees. Visit Clinical Guidance to find MN COE guidance and best practices for clinicians caring for newcomers.

MN COE Connect

One-stop-shop for all MN COE applications, interactive tools, and resources for clinicians and public health professionals.

MN COE Connect

  • CareRef
    Guides clinicians through post-arrival refugee medical screening, tests, and preventive care based on CDC guidance, patient demographics, and geographic risk factors.
  • Clinical FAQs
    Commonly asked clinical questions and answers that supplement the CDC's Domestic Refugee Health Medical Screening Guidance, UpToDate, and other clinical guidance resources.
  • LanguageRef
    A searchable directory of interpretation vendors across the U.S. for “rare languages”—languages not commonly spoken in the U.S. It can be used by health care workers and service providers.
  • VaxRef
    Free online application that translates vaccine records into English. Available in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian and now available in Dari, Pashto, and Arab.


Welcome to VaxRef Companion Guide (PDF)
Welcome to VaxRef Transcript (PDF) 

Clinical decision support for newcomer health

Health care, public health, and informatics professionals from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Denver Health and Hospital Authority (Colorado), HealthPartners (Minnesota), and Thomas Jefferson University (Pennsylvania) worked with national experts to identify opportunities for electronic health record (EHR) improvement and evidence-based, standardized care for newly-arrived refugees and other newcomers. The product contributes to efficient data extraction from EHRs for surveillance purposes.

This MN COE collaboration led to the creation of the Refugee Health Decision Support tools. 

Newcomer Health CDS Version 1.3
Order sets, documentation templates, and supporting resources available for download at no cost via GitHub.

Development of the Refugee Health Decision Support Module was funded by Centers for Excellence in Refugee Health grant 5 NU50CK000459-02 (MN) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a federally funded project, it is subject to federal copyright restrictions and open access policies.

While this artifact to build an Epic SmartSet is the work of partners funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this artifact is not the work of CDC nor of the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The selection, omission, or content of items in the artifact does not imply endorsement or any other position taken by CDC or MDH, and CDC and MDH assume no responsibility for accuracy. The artifact belongs to its authors and all questions should be directed to its authors. However, the “Guidelines for the U.S. Domestic Medical Examination for Newly Arriving Refugees” referenced in this artifact were developed by CDC to help state public health departments and medical professionals/clinicians in determining the best tests to perform based on evidence during routine post-arrival medical screening of refugees. These guidelines are only intended as recommendations and should not be construed as either mandates or medical advice. Refugee health care providers with any questions should contact their state refugee health coordinator.

Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are provided as a service to readers on this site and do not constitute or imply endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed on this site were current as of the date of publication.

Adaptable electronic medical record (EMR) language list

Customizing your EMR language lists to reflect the populations your organization serves is an important step in delivering comprehensive and tailored health care and communication. Documenting a person's preferred language helps the care team, including the interpreter, prepare for a clinic appointment and for linguistically-concordant health education delivery. This may improve the patient’s understanding of diagnoses, medication, therapies and recommendations and help with your organization with broader quality improvement evaluations on the care being provided to your community.

The MN COE, led by Denver Health and Hospital Authority, vetted various EMR lists and created a standard language list of common languages spoken in the U.S. to adapt for your local EMR as a drop-down list. This list was vetted for accuracy (for example, listing "Arabic" as a language instead of "Egyptian") and additional languages spoken in your community can be added to the list.

Once you review and tailor the list to meet the needs of your community, your service provider may integrate it in your EMR.

MN COE Standard Language List for EMR Integration (Excel)

CDC's NHSN abridged primary language list

CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) in collaboration with our colleague, Dr. Janine Young at the University of California San Diego, has developed an additional language directory to provide health organizations with a standardized a language reference list for their electronic health records. This abridged list of over 500 languages uses the ISO 639 master list and is not intended to be exhaustive or exclusionary.

NHSN New Data Collection Requirements for Primary Language

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Last Updated: 07/21/2026

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