Today marks the start of the ONC 2023 annual meeting and with this comes some big news: Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) is now operational.

This multi-year, the public-private process – working with The Sequoia Project as the official RCE – has culminated in the vision of patients having increased access to their records, and health care providers and plans can improve their secure exchange of electronic health information.

“After over a decade of very hard work, today marks another major milestone in our march towards a 21st century digital health care system,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, in this press release. “TEFCA allows patients, providers, public health professionals, health insurers, and other health care stakeholders to safely and securely share information critical to the health of our country and all of our people.”

The designated Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINS) can immediately begin supporting the exchange of data under the Common Agreement’s policies and technical requirements.

In other ONC news, the agency has also finalized a rule to support health IT interoperability and artificial intelligence (AI) transparency. According to the ONC, this will “make interoperability easier, and ensure that digital information and tools are being appropriately used to support patient access and to improve the health and well-being of all Americans.”

These will certainly be major topics of discussion today and tomorrow at the ONC 2023 annual meeting.  Representatives from RosettaHealth will be on-hand at the event, and we will be covering any additional ONC updates.

 RosettaHealth can assist with any health information challenges you might have, book a free consultation with one of our interoperability experts.