The eHealth Exchange said that by designating it as its Qualified Health Information Network, the Indian Health Service is now exchanging health data under the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement.
WHY IT MATTERS
While most federal health agencies are evaluating their TEFCA strategies, IHS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the first that delivers or pays for healthcare to go live with its data modernization efforts, according to eHealth Exchange.
“I’ve been working with other federal agencies to stress the importance and value of participating in TEFCA – for them, and more importantly, for the American people,” Dr. Micky Tripathi, assistant secretary for technology policy, national coordinator for health information technology and acting chief artificial intelligence officer at HHS, said in the network’s announcement last week.
“IHS is showing leadership in its decision to join TEFCA,” Tripathi added.
The comprehensive health service delivery system provides care for approximately 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to 574 federally recognized tribes in 37 states. IHS has 45 hospitals, including 19 critical access hospitals, 59 health centers and 32 health stations.
The agency has been working with eHealth Exchange since 2011 when the network was originally formed, the network said in a statement.
“While we work through tribal consent requirements, we wanted to ensure technical readiness for TEFCA exchange with the private sector, public health and regional and state health information exchanges,” Mitch Thornbrough, IHS chief information officer, noted.
“eHealth Exchange continues to be the principal way agencies exchange clinical data with the private sector,” added Jay Nakashima, president of eHealth Exchange.
THE LARGER TREND
IHS has been an eHealth Exchange participant since 2020 and has long-standing representation on its coordinating committee, a group of federal and non-federal participants who collectively provide governance, oversight, management and support of the trust framework for its network participants.
Last year, the agency announced that it would update its electronic health records through a 10-year, $2.5 billion Health Information Technology Modernization Program, replacing the 40-year-old system with Oracle technology to be built, configured and maintained by General Dynamics Information Technology.
“With the new EHR system, patients will have better access to their own health information, providers can more effectively coordinate patient care in and out of our network, and we can better track the health of tribal communities overall,” IHS Director Roselyn Tso said in a statement at the time.
Like Epic, Oracle announced plans to become a QHIN – a pillar of network-to-network exchange – in October. The EHR vendor said its cloud infrastructure could speed up data sharing by minimizing technology layers needed for electronic health information sharing, including medical imaging.
HHS also released the latest version of TEFCA, initially implemented under the 21st Century Cures Act and live as of one year ago, in October.
ASTP said that v2.1 addresses a structure for interoperability disputes and establishes a framework for assessing potential TEFCA participants. It adds Participant and Subparticipant Terms of Participation, setting forth requirements that each participant and subparticipant must agree to and comply with to participate in TEFCA.
ON THE RECORD
“eHealth Exchange has been our national network of choice for over a decade,” said Thornbrough in a statement. “As we contemplated our participation in TEFCA, eHealth Exchange was a logical choice.”
“As we look ahead to 2025, we’re excited about the opportunity to expand TEFCA connectivity to even more federal agencies,” said Nakashima said.
Source : Healthcare IT News
Author : News7
Publish date : 2024-12-09 20:45:00
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