HHS continues to prioritize interoperability through the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA.
Here are three of the agency’s plans for TEFCA for the remainder of 2025, according to a July 7 blog post from Steven Posnack, principal deputy assistant secretary for technology policy at HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/ONC:
1. Increase transparency. “Draft TEFCA work products will be available for public comment, giving everyone an equal chance to provide input,” Mr. Posnack wrote. “Up first is the draft Qualified Health Information Network Technical Framework v2.1, which is open for feedback through July 28.”
2. Drive participation and use. “While we are committed to scaling treatment exchange and individual access services on TEFCA, we are equally excited about expanding participation and live use of the network for the other TEFCA authorized exchange purposes: payment, healthcare operations, government benefits determination, and public health,” he wrote.
3. Activate HHS’ federal partners. “We look forward to supporting our federal partners’ participation in TEFCA and meeting their mission needs,” he wrote. “We’d like to thank everyone who submitted comments on the joint request for information issued with CMS. We are reviewing them carefully for policy and program implementation purposes, including to inform our work on TEFCA.”
