We are now well past the 20 year mark in our quest for healthcare interoperability. Under an executive order from president G W Bush (April 2004), the ONC was established and Dr. David Brailer was dubbed “America’s first Health Information Czar.” The Meaningful Use program was then born out of the HITECH Act and Merit-Based Incentive Payment System was then born our of the MACRA legislation. And then information sharing from the CURES Act. And now the release of Trusted Exchange Framework and the Common Agreement (TEFCA). All trying to move our healthcare system to the digital age, better outcomes, controlling and reducing costs, and patient access to their health data. It has not been an easy road and the debate of the journey will never end.
Industry and Contract News
Industry Leaders Are ‘All In’ On Pharmacy Interoperability
The Sequoia Project, a non-profit and trusted advocate for nationwide health information technology (health IT) interoperability, announces the official launch of the Pharmacy Workgroup as part of its flagship Interoperability Matters program.
Google launches new Medical Records APIs globally in Health Connect
At The Check Up, Google’s annual health event, they shared how they are using AI to help improve health outcomes for everyone, everywhere. One of the 6 AI updates included the new API for medical records. These APIs enable apps to read and write medical record information like allergies, medications, immunizations and lab results in standard FHIR format. With these additions, Health Connect supports over 50 data types across activity, sleep, nutrition, vitals and now medical records — making it easier to connect your everyday health data with data from your doctor’s office.
Standards Development Updates
Participation in DirectTrust Standards is open to application by any interested party within the DirectTrust Standards Interest Categories. Members of DirectTrust should contact Standards@DirectTrust.org to indicate their interest in participation in DirectTrust Standards activities. For non-Members of DirectTrust, interested parties can join DirectTrust Standards via the application linked below.
United Digestive Partners with eClinicalWorks to Enhance Patient Experience with AI-Powered Solution, healow Genie
eClinicalWorks®, the largest ambulatory cloud EHR, announced that United Digestive has selected healow® Genie – a first-of-its-kind, EHR-agnostic, AI-powered contact center solution – for implementation across its practices. The soon-to-be-launched integration will provide patients round-the-clock access to crucial health information through text, chatbot, or voice call. The AI medical receptionist’s role includes arranging appointments, facilitating bill payments, and handling medication refills or referral requests.
Spotlight on Community Networks
The Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) and the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC) announced a formal affiliation between the two organizations to form a new organization named Civitas Networks for Health. The organization serves as a platform for local nonprofit health collaboratives and health information exchanges to grow and thrive. Read their latest news. Follow them @civitas4health.
Announcing 2025 Annual Conference Premier Partnership with 211 San Diego which encompasses Community Information Exchange (CIE) San Diego, and San Diego Health Connect (HIE) will serve as the premier conference partner for the Annual Conference alongside other California Civitas members. The theme, “Bridging Data and Doing,” from September 28-30, 2025, in Anaheim, CA. Sponsorship opportunities are now available.
State HIE News
LANES Achieves HITRUST r2 Certification, Demonstrating the Highest Level of Information Protection Assurance
Los Angeles Network for Enhanced Services (LANES), a California Qualified Health Information Organization (QHIO), announced it has achieved HITRUST® r2 Certification for the 2024–2026 cycle. This milestone reinforces LANES’ commitment to securing protected health information (PHI) and ensuring the highest standards of data privacy and regulatory compliance, including the handling of sensitive data such as Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment records.
MX March Newsletter
Catch up on the latest with this monthly roundup of news and updates from Manifest Medex. Learn about MX monthly product trainings, MX product roadmap quarterly update, register for an upcoming webinar and more.
Hires and Openings
Contexture
Contexture is a nonprofit organization that provides strategic, technical and administrative support to communities committed to advancing health through information sharing. As the leading health information exchange for Arizona and Colorado, Contexture is the largest health information organization in the western region. Check out their current openings.
eHealth Exchange
Active in all 50 states, the eHealth Exchange is the largest query-based, health information network in the country. It is the principal network that connects federal agencies and non-federal organizations, allowing them to work together to improve patient care and public health. They have an open positions for:
MiHIN
Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN) is a public and private non-profit collaboration dedicated to improving the healthcare experience, improving quality and decreasing cost for Michigan’s people by supporting the statewide exchange of health information and making valuable data available at the point of care.
They currently have openings for the following positions:
North Carolina Department of Information Technology
The NC Health Information Exchange Authority (NC HIEA) is seeking its next mission-driven, highly motivated and detail-oriented data quality team lead. The Data Quality and Integrity Team Lead (DQIL) will be the in-house data expert, comfortable working with data and business processes to enable new and innovative use cases for NC HealthConnex, the state-designated health information exchange, as well as enhance the overall experience for NC HIEA participants across external NC HealthConnex services.
VITL
VITL is seeking a Operations Client Support Lead. This role will define and guide processes for customer and operations support including the daily interactions between our clients and our organization. The Client Support Lead plays a crucial role in prioritizing customers’ needs, expectations and satisfaction; they will lead our team in delivering the highest level of customer service in all client support interactions. The Client Support Lead will manage the day to day operations of the system and services in coordination with VITL’s internal technical team and contracted vendor support resources. The Client Support team oftentimes will be the first to identify issues, and will prioritize and escalate all issues based on severity.
Delaware Health Information Network
Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) is currently seeking a Project Manager Analyst. Specifically, the Project Manager plays a critical role by serving as the lead for project work for all assigned project initiatives and will integrate with all DHIN teams, DHIN stakeholders and technology vendors. Projects are typically IT integration but are shifting towards projects requiring software development and customization. The PM has no positional authority and must be able to create and sustain cooperative voluntary relationships between the project participants.
Upcoming Events
AHIP / Surescripts
When: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 1:00 pm ET
Register for this event.
Learn How New Interoperability Solutions Can Drive Improved Outcomes – Health insurance providers value the clinical insights and integrations needed to more effectively solve gaps in care for high-risk members. Getting high-quality data and new ways to communicate needed actions within provider workflows is essential to improve quality measures and reduce the cost of care.
This panel will explore how new interoperability solutions can help health insurance providers quickly identify gaps in care by streamlining data exchange and enhancing communication with providers. By leveraging these solutions, attendees will learn how to improve care coordination, ensuring that providers have timely, accurate information to address gaps and deliver better care, ultimately improving member outcomes.
Manifest Medex
When: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 2:00 pm ET
Register for this event.
The Future of Health Data Sharing – A Story of Headwinds, Tailwinds, and Unknowns – From regulatory changes, cybersecurity and privacy concerns, and emerging opportunities with AI, to the future of TEFCA and potential impact of Medicaid reform, join leading health data experts from across the country as they share their thoughts on the latest drivers, challenges – and unknowns – impacting health and social services information sharing at the state and national levels.
2025 State Healthcare IT Connect Summit
When: April 30th – May 2nd 2025
Where: Hyatt Regency New Orleans, LA
Event Page
Register for this event.
Modernization Strategies for a Connected HHS Ecosystem
The 2025 State HIT Connect Summit will explore leading-edge pilots in different vertical application areas, as well as at the enterprise level, providing key insights as to the potential for driving overall ecosystem transformation.
The 2025 meeting is the 15th annual State Healthcare IT Connect Summit. The conference has grown and evolved into an important national venue for public and private sector thought leaders to share ideas and benchmark implementation strategies of State Health IT Systems.
2025 DirectTrust Annual Conference
When: August 4-7, 2025
Where: St. Louis Hilton at the Ballpark, St. Louis MO
Event Page
Register for this event. Early Bird Registration is open through May 16.
The Intersection of Interoperability, Identity, and Cybersecurity – Last year’s conference brought healthcare stakeholders together from across the country to discuss “The Future of Trust in Health.” Throughout the event, three themes consistently came up: interoperability, identity, and cybersecurity.
Each of these areas is incredibly important to the health technology ecosystem, with a great deal of complexity, science, and art within each. However, these topics also have a common intersection, one that DirectTrust cares very deeply about: trust. DirectTrust truly lives and thrives at the intersection of these three areas. That is why this year’s annual conference theme is “The Intersection of Interoperability, Identity, and Cybersecurity,” providing opportunity to explore these topics individually as well as how they interrelate.
ONC's Cures Act Final Rule
In May of 2020 the 21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program released by the ONC and published in the Federal Register.
The TEFCA Players
ONC Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE)
The Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) – The Sequoia Project (@sequoiaproject)is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining the Common Agreement component of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). The Common Agreement is the baseline technical and legal requirements for health information networks to share electronic health information and is part of the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act).
In addition they will collaborate with ONC to designate and monitor Qualified Health Information Networks (QHIN), modify and update an accompanying QHIN Technical Framework, engage with stakeholders through virtual public listening sessions, adjudicate noncompliance with the Common Agreement, and propose sustainability strategies to support TEFCA beyond the cooperative agreement’s period of performance.
On August 28, 2023, the ONC awarded The Sequoia Project 5-Year TEFCA RCE Contract to continue their services.
RCE Resource Library – which includes a guide to the Common Agreement, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), technical documents, and other resources that make up TEFCA’s rules of the road. Start your journey to next generation interoperability here.
The Sequoia Project Addresses Health Data Information Sharing with Educational Toolkit – The Sequoia Project released an informational and educational toolkit to support providers, health IT developers, health information networks and exchanges, and the greater healthcare community’s commitment to compliance with the federal Information Blocking Rule (IBR).
The Sequoia Project Releases Data Usability Guide Version 2.0 – The Sequoia Project announced the release of the Data Usability Implementation Guide Version 2.0 created by its Interoperability Matters Data Usability Workgroup (DUWG). This resource covers the identified priority use cases that can be readily adopted within health information exchange vendors, implementers, networks, governance frameworks, and testing programs within 18 months.
The Sequoia Project Publishes State of Consent Capabilities – The Sequoia Project published Moving Toward Computable Consent: A Landscape Review for public feedback. This whitepaper explains the importance of managing privacy and consent when sharing personal health information, scans the current landscape of challenges facing those entrusted with personal health information, enumerates existing solutions, and explores the strengths and deficiencies of these approaches.
Designated QHINs as of February 2024
Candidate QHINs
Organizations that have completed the Qualified Health Information Network® (QHIN™) application and have been accepted into the project planning and testing phase of the on boarding and designation process.
Interoperability Market
According to research by Grand View Research, the global healthcare interoperability solutions market size was estimated at USD 3.42 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.15% from 2024 to 2030. An increase in the adoption of interoperability solutions by healthcare authorities, a rise in investments to enhance healthcare facilities, favorable government initiatives to improve patient care, high government funding, and a focus on patient-centric care are some major factors propelling the market growth. In February 2023, the federal government provided USD 505 million to federal data partners and Canada Health Infoway to advance digital health tools and an interoperability roadmap. Thus, the rising investments and funding from government bodies are anticipated to drive the industry growth.