The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking additional public comment and a contractor for an initiative that will support full, network-to-network sharing of health information across the U.S.
HHS released the update on its Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement Friday based on initial stakeholder comments. Officials plan to award a contract to a non-profit, industry-based organization that will support the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the development, launch, update and maintenance of the agreement.Â
“The updated Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement we issued today considered the more than 200 comments we received on our previous draft and reflects extensive work with our federal partners,†said Don Rucker, national coordinator for health information technology at HHS. “The future common agreement will provide the governance necessary to meet the interoperability demands of diverse stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers and health plans.â€
Public comment and application for the TEFCA funding opportunity are open through June 17. HHS announced the program in January 2018 in compliance with the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016 to establish policies, technical standards and processes to facilitate interoperability of electronic health records systems.
