Puerto Rico HIE Announces Plans to Participate in Prospective TEFCA QHIN

The Puerto Rico Health Information Exchange (PRHIE) has announced its intention to participate in TEFCA through Health Gorilla's anticipated Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN).

Health Gorilla is a data sharing platform that supports secure national HIE.

The Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDOH) leverages Health Gorilla's platform for secure data exchange across 430 care sites, 70 hospitals, and over 9,000 providers. The collaboration also includes connections across government agencies, pharmacies, public registries, and health IT vendors.

Earlier this month, ONC approved Health Gorilla as one of six Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN) candidates to implement the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). TEFCA aims to create a network of networks to support national healthcare interoperability.

"Making patient health information more readily available to medical professionals has improved the quality of patient care throughout Puerto Rico," Alexander Quevedo, state HIT coordinator at PRDOH, said in a press release. "We were thrilled to hear about Health Gorilla's application approval, and we look forward to participating in Health Gorilla's QHIN if designated."

With application approval, the QHIN candidates successfully fulfilled the governance, functional, and operational requirements for authorization to serve as QHINs under TEFCA. Before official designation as QHINs, the organizations must complete testing and onboarding.

"As healthcare organizations seek secure, compliant ways of participating in national health data exchange, Health Gorilla is dedicated to meeting their needs," said Steve Yaskin, CEO and co-founder of Health Gorilla. "With our QHIN application officially approved, we are proud to have the Puerto Rico Department of Health on board."