Data interoperability: will it ever become a reality in our healthcare system?

The answer could be an emphatic “yes.” That’s because on January 18, 2022, the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and its Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE), The Sequoia Project, released the publication of the Trusted Exchange Framework and the Common Agreement, or TEFCA.

A requirement of the 21st Century Cures Act, TEFCA is the single biggest step to make access to and sharing of electronic health information a reality between America’s health information networks, providers, payers, and patients.

How will it work? When will it start? What stakeholders will be involved? Who will enforce it? How will it impact many of today’s healthcare challenges?  

Here to answer those questions and more is one of most recognized champions for healthcare data interoperability, Mariann Yeager. Mariann is the CEO of The Sequoia Project, an independent trusted advocate responsible for the development and implementation of TEFCA’s Common Agreement; as well as the designation and monitoring of its Qualified Health Information Networks, or QHINs. 

Joining Mariann on today’s show is Dr. Anil Jain, chief innovation officer at Innovaccer. Here’s what they connected on:

• TEFCA’s purpose, history, and stakeholders
• What ATMs and the financial industry can teach healthcare about sharing data
• When we will know that our health system has reached true interoperability
• Inside the role Sequoia plays with TEFCA and the ONC
• How interoperability improves efficiency in care delivery
• Open standards and the QHIN Technical Framework
• How organizations not participating in TEFCA might be left behind
• The impact a “network of networks” holds for private and public health settings
• How non-traditional sources of data will be a meaningful part of shared records
• How TEFCA can help move clinicians using fax machines and paper into digital information exchange
• How treatment, financial, and operational data will evolve with interoperability
• Data Driven: How Sequoia will empower America’s healthcare consumers
• What FHIR means to companies wanting to innovate in healthcare
• How TEFCA can support the goals of health plans
  Interoperability’s future—data sharing, semantics, usability, and compliance

Show Resources

• The Innovation Accelerator Vodcast
• The Innovaccer Health Cloud
• The Innovaccer Data Activation Platform
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• Visit the Innovaccer Website
• Subscribe to the Innovation Accelerator Podcast
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