HHS' ONC Friday published its draft Trusted Exchange Framework, which addressed ways of achieving interoperability, as required by the 21st Century Cures Act.
The guidance proposes policies, procedures and technical standards that seek to advance a single pathway toward interoperability. ONC will collaborate with one Recognized Coordinating Entity, to be selected by the ONC through a competitive process, that will use the guidance to develop a single common agreement for Qualified Health Information Networks and their participants.
The framework does not prevent existing or new organizations from developing point-to-point or individual agreements between organizations with a particular business needs of exchanging information or preventing information blocking.
"We know that many stakeholders, including healthcare providers, health systems, developers, and existing health information networks have extensive experience in trust agreements and common exchange networks and strongly encourage stakeholders to share that insight with us," ONC head Don Rucker, MD, said.
ONC opened a 45-day comment period seeking stakeholder input on the framework. That period closes Feb. 18.
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