Epic's new interoperability push, explained

Epic has intensified its pursuit of interoperability in recent months.

Here are nine things to know:

1. The EHR vendor pledged to have all its customers commit to joining the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA, a government-sponsored interoperability network, by Dec. 31, and go live by the end of 2025.

The goal is to have patients easily share and access their health data no matter which EHR vendor their hospital, health system or clinic uses. TEFCA is the "North Star the industry is going toward" for health data exchange, Epic interoperability director Rob Klootwyk told Becker's.

2. So far, 84 Epic health system customers have gone live on TEFCA, while another 136 health systems have pledged their commitment. Also, 1,521 of Epic's 3,000 hospitals and 33,139 of the 69,000 clinics on the EHR have gone live or made the pledge.

These include some of the biggest health systems in the country. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health and Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care have gone live, while Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth and Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health have committed.

3. Health systems that go live with a new Epic EHR or upgrade their system are automatically live on TEFCA (though they can still opt out). The ultimate goal is to make TEFCA participation "automatic," Mr. Klootwyk said.

4. Epic is covering the costs of TEFCA enrollment through 2025, after which fees will be "phased in," Mr. Klootwyk said. The costs cover Epic setting up and operating a Qualified Health Information Network, a requirement of TEFCA.

Meanwhile, health systems can check off their participation in the Promoting Interoperability program, formerly known as "meaningful use," by taking part in TEFCA, and membership could also satisfy health systems' information-blocking requirements.

"The main thing we're focused on is wherever the patient goes, her record can follow her when she needs it, at the time of treatment," Mr. Klootwyk said.

5. The No. 1 barrier to health systems joining has been awareness. "Otherwise, it's just getting the terms and conditions of participation in front of your legal team," Mr. Klootwyk said.

6. Health systems can go live in a matter of weeks. Others have taken months when it's a lower priority for the legal department. The technical lift, Mr. Klootwyk said, consists of changing a "handful of settings" in Epic.

7. About 70% of hospitals are fully interoperable, HHS reported in May. "Universal interoperability across the country, that unicorn people have been talking about for a long time, more now than ever I think people can actually see it and understand it," Mr. Klootwyk said.

8. The incoming Trump administration could make changes to TEFCA but hasn't indicated it will. Interoperability has largely received bipartisan support throughout the years.

9. Epic also recently advanced interoperability standards for digital health app developers. Meanwhile, the EHR vendor asked for some changes to a proposed HHS interoperability rule while founder and CEO Judy Faulkner has recently touted Epic's Care Everywhere program, which allowed Epic patients to electronically share their data with any provider they wished, as the scion of "modern interoperability."

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