Increasing Collaboration Between The Sequoia Project at National and International Levels
Eric Heflin, CIO/CTO for The Sequoia Project (@sequoiaproject), provided expert testimony at the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics’ Standards Subcommittee CIO Forum. Mr. Heflin shared the evolution of technical standards utilized by The Sequoia Project and its initiatives, including incorporation of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®), as the organization supports scalable health data sharing solutions. He also provided advice on lessons learned from supporting nationwide health information sharing that could be applied to administrative simplification transactions, claims workflows, standards development, governance and oversight, data harmonization and consumer access.
The eHealth Exchange, one of the largest public-private health information exchanges in the U.S., and Carequality, the national trusted exchange framework for interoperability between and among health information networks, both leverage international technical standards such as those developed by IHE International, an international health information technology (IT) standards development organization.
“The Sequoia Project and its initiatives are grounded in real-world health data sharing experiences,” said Mr. Heflin. “It’s critical that those organizations with large scale health data sharing experience collaborate to move the whole nation forward efficiently and productively in coordination with those that require such standards. Providers and patients are counting on us.”
Partnering with and providing leadership to national and international organizations is vital to the success of the development and large-scale implementation of The Sequoia Project’s interoperability efforts. Mr. Heflin serves as a subject matter expert and active contributor to wide-ranging groups including the HL7 FHIR Argonaut Project and ONC’s Health Information Technology Advisory Committee’s (HITAC) U.S. Core Data for Interoperability Task Force (USCDI). Mr. Heflin was also recently re-elected to the IHE USA Board of Directors. IHE USA represents the United States’ interests within IHE International. Didi Davis, director of testing programs for The Sequoia Project, serves on the IHE International Board of Directors and on various committees.
About The Sequoia Project
The Sequoia Project is a non-profit, 501c3, public-private collaborative chartered to advance implementation of secure, interoperable nationwide health information exchange. The Sequoia Project supports multiple, independent health IT interoperability initiatives, most notably: the eHealth Exchange, a rapidly growing national-level health information network; and Carequality, which is a national-level, consensus-built, common interoperability framework to interconnect and enable exchange between and among existing health information networks, much like the telecommunications industry did for linking cell phone networks.