HHS' Office of the National Coordinator released a timeline July 14 for its Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, which addressed ways of achieving a single pathway to interoperability across health information networks.
The framework, as required by the 21st Century Cures Act, implements policies, procedures and technical standards to support a single pathway toward interoperability.
ONC awarded a cooperative agreement in August 2019 to the Sequoia Project to serve as the Recognized Coordinating Entity of the project, making the group responsible for administering the new nationwide network based on the Common Agreement. Since appointing the Sequoia Project, ONC and the organization have worked together to compile industry stakeholders' input to draft and refine the approach to a nationwide health information exchange across Qualified Health Information Networks and their participants.
Here is the timeline and process ONC unveiled to launch TEFCA:
Summer, fall and winter 2021: Public engagement webinars; common agreement work group sessions; RCE and ONC use feedback to finalize Common Agreement V1 and QHIN Technical Framework.
Q1 of 2022: Release Final Trusted Exchange Framework, Common Agreement V1 Final and QTF V1 Final.
2022: QHINs begin signing Common Agreement; QHINs selected, onboarded and begin sharing data on rolling basis.
Click here to view the full ONC blog post.