On Monday, half a dozen organizations were approved by the Department of Health and Human Services as the first group of candidates to join as a qualified health information network as part of the General Agreement and Framework. ONC’s trusted exchange.
At an event on February 13 at the US Department of Health and Human Services, six healthcare organizations were approved to implement TEFCA as potential QHINs: CommonWell Health Alliance, eHealth Exchange, Epic TEFCA Interoperability Services, Health Gorilla, Kno2, and KONZA National Network.
In a blog post, National IT Coordinator for Health Micky Tripathi recognized those organizations, “for their willingness to voluntarily step up and meet TEFCA’s stringent eligibility requirements. , terms and conditions of participation in TEFCA as well as a commitment to a 12-month period of operation.”
Tripathi notes that, together, the six candidates “have networks that cover most US hospitals, tens of thousands of providers, and process billions of transactions annually across all 50 states.
This is an important step for the U.S. health system and one that will enhance interoperability at scale for patients, healthcare providers, hospitals, and healthcare agencies. public, health insurers, and other authorized healthcare stakeholders.”
But once the rollout begins, there will be a lot of hard work ahead, he added. “Strong security and privacy protections are imperative for QHIN, and their expanded connectivity will help improve quality, safety, affordability, efficiency,” he said. and equity of health care services across the country”.
For its part, Epic — which has applied for QHIN status through its subsidiary, Epic TEFCA Interoperability Services — sees huge potential benefits for its customers, which include 2,700 hospitals and 70,000 clinics. But also see the goals of the 21st Century Cures Act as a continuation of the work it has been doing.
“Vendors in the Epic community have led the nation in exchanging health information for more than 15 years,” Matt Doyle, Interactive Software Development Lead at Epic, said in a statement. “Our support of HHS in this historic milestone will expand information sharing and create a single link towards global interoperability.”
eHealth Exchange is also looking forward to this new milestone in its engagement efforts.
Jay Nakashima, chief executive officer of eHealth Exchange, said: “We are excited to move forward in the QHIN designation process and begin the pilot phase. “Minister Becerra’s recognition is testament to the eHealth Exchange’s efforts to support electronic health data sharing over the past 13 years. We will continue to support the need to share health data. of federal agencies and other participants in our public-private network.”
Commonwell Health Alliance, which exchanges approximately 30 million documents weekly and serves more than 34,000 healthcare organizations providing care to 200 million people, says its broad reach and Record Locator Service This organization helps the organization succeed nationally.
CEO Paul L Wilder said in a statement that its existing network capabilities are “well positioned to support TEFCA’s and industry-wide technical goals.” “We congratulate all other potential QHINs and look forward to working with them, the ONC and the Accredited Coordinator to achieve those goals and continue to improve the exchange of health data. for the whole country.”
Meanwhile, Kno2 “looks forward to supporting the pressing U.S. need for interoperability across the country and helping to improve patient outcomes, address provider burnout, and relieve the burden of finance in healthcare today,” said Therasa Bell, the company’s co-founder, president and chief technology officer. office staff. “By becoming QHIN, Kno2 can leverage its expertise and capabilities to help ensure TEFCA is successful and that providers, patients and health plans have seamless access to health information. the right patient when and where needed.”
And Health Gorilla officials say they are confident they can help meet the stringent requirements for the broader and more streamlined data exchange that TEFCA has promised and the clinical benefits it will offer. permission.d
“With the app’s approval, we can confidently move forward together to promote national health information sharing of the highest standards,” CEO Steve Yaskin said in a statement. on patient privacy, data security, and network governance”.
Dr Steven Lane, the company’s chief medical officer, added: “We look forward to participating in the implementation process with the goal of achieving the first QHIN-to-QHIN exchange this year.”
And at the roundtable, KONZA CEO, Dr. Laura McCrary, who is also executive director of the Kansas Health Information Network, spoke about the value of nationwide information exchange.
“Health care is local until it’s not.” – @LauraMcCrary4 at the round table for @ONC_HealthIT #TEFCA recognition event on the importance of #interactive abillity. pic.twitter.com/o5Tj3JnOGd
– KONZA National Network (@KonzaHealth) February 13, 2023
“Although today is an occasion to celebrate, our work on TEFCA has really just begun,” says Tripathi. “We look forward to welcoming more QHIN applicants in the coming months and having the network fully operational.”
