The Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has awarded The Sequoia Project another contract year to continue as the Recognized Coordinating Entity for the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement.
Healthcare industry groups recently have identified key challenges to nationwide interoperability, including the need for better patient identity resolution and improved patient access to records.
WHY IT MATTERS
Since go-live in 2023, more than 39 million documents have been shared through the TEFCA exchange, according to the announcement.
"This past year was marked by tremendous growth," The Sequoia Project's CEO and RCE Lead Mariann Yeager said in the statement.
The nonprofit organization, which has been working with the federal government and industry to architect the nationwide sharing of health information since 2019, quantified the widespread increase in TEFCA adoption over the past year.
TEFCA currently has 10 Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINs), which represent more than 9,400 organizations, The Sequoia Project reported.
THE LARGER TREND
In June, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and ASTP issued a request for information on the Health Technology Ecosystem, and industry groups commented on gaps in nationwide interoperability practices, including encouraging the Department of Health and Human Services' agencies to prioritize identity resolution to improve patient matching and ensure access to complete patient records across healthcare organizations.
The American Hospital Association outlined several recommendations, including building additional infrastructure to provide TEFCA oversight, establishing an attestation schedule for all QHINs, and protecting hospitals and health systems from information blocking liabilities when a QHIN they might use is suspended or terminated.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Premier Inc., a health tech company, registered concerns about patient access, among other recommendations, in its comment letter. The company suggested mandating the access in ASTP's certified electronic health record technology criteria.
Patient access has been a sticky wicket for TEFCA.
While EHR vendors and QHINs have agreed to support individual access services under the agreement, responding has been a challenge. However, HealthEx and several partners announced a platform for patient authentication under TEFCA earlier this month that they said would soon launch.
ON THE RECORD
"The Sequoia Project's RCE team is excited to continue supporting TEFCA's rapid expansion and evolution," Yeager said in a statement. "We look forward to seeing what the coming year brings as we work with the government and industry to expand TEFCA participation with new audiences and new exchange purposes."
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
