HHS, ONC Designate Additional QHINs for TEFCA Health Data Exchange

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), has designated two additional organizations as Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINs) capable of health data exchange governed by the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).

CommonWell Health Alliance and Kno2 can immediately begin supporting health data exchange under the Common Agreement's policies and technical requirements, along with the other designated QHINs.

ONC has led a multi-year, public-private process alongside The Sequoia Project, Inc., its Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) to implement TEFCA. Envisioned by the 21st Century Cures Act to drive nationwide interoperability, TEFCA became operational in December 2023 with the designation of the first five QHINs: eHealth Exchange, Epic Nexus, Health Gorilla, KONZA, and MedAllies.

QHINs are the pillars of TEFCA network-to-network exchange, providing shared services and governance to route queries, responses, and messages securely across networks for healthcare stakeholders, including patients, health systems, providers, hospitals, payers, and public health agencies.

"These additional QHINs expand TEFCA's reach and provide additional connectivity choices for patients, health care providers, hospitals, public health agencies, health insurers, and other authorized health care professionals," Micky Tripathi, PhD, national coordinator for health IT, said in a press release. "On behalf of ONC, I want to congratulate CommonWell Health Alliance and Kno2 for their achievement."

Common Agreement Version 2.0, which is set to include updates to require support for Health Level Seven (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)-based transactions, is under development and scheduled to be adopted by QHINs within the first quarter of 2024.

"The designation of these two QHINs, which brings the total number of QHINs to seven, highlights the rapid expansion of TEFCA exchange and the support of more and more leaders around TEFCA exchange," said Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project and RCE lead.