AtlantiCare, based in Atlantic City, N.J., has exchanged more than 300,000 documents with 254 organizations across 30 states in just 30 days, following its recent go-live with the CommonWell Health Alliance, the health system’s CIO Jordan Ruch told Becker’s.
The milestone comes as part of AtlantiCare’s “Powered by Oracle strategy,” which includes national data exchange under the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA.
“TEFCA created the national standard for the data exchange,” Mr. Ruch said. “Oracle is partnered with CommonWell in order to facilitate that data exchange.”
Both Oracle and Epic have applied to become Qualified Health Information Networks, or QHINs, under TEFCA — a designation that will enable the EHR vendors to directly participate in the federal framework for health information exchange.
For AtlantiCare, the early returns have been promising.
“Our health system in southern New Jersey has been able to exchange records with 30 states in the last 30 days, and I think it’s hard to overstate the value of that from a patient care perspective,” Mr. Ruch said.
He emphasized the operational benefits of moving away from manual data exchange.
“There is a lot of faxing that’s still in this space, and a lot of phone calls — and there’s a lot of potential for error with that type of interaction,” he said. “To really leverage some of the national networks that are now out there has been really exciting for AtlantiCare.”
TEFCA is a federal initiative designed to establish nationwide standards for sharing electronic health records. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology oversees the program, which aims to reduce health data fragmentation by allowing different systems to communicate more easily and securely.
Oracle Health Information Network, a subsidiary of Oracle Health, was accepted as a candidate Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN) under TEFCA in May.
