ONC releases Common Agreement Version 2.0 for TEFCA

ONC and its Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE), The Sequoia Project, have released the TEFCA Common Agreement Version 2.0 (CA v2.0), which includes new requirements for FHIR API exchange.

TEFCA is an ONC initiative that aims to create a network of networks to support national healthcare interoperability. The Common Agreement establishes the technical infrastructure and governing approach to support TEFCA data exchange.

The CA v2.0 enhancements for FHIR API exchange aim to help TEFCA participants and subparticipants exchange data more easily. Additionally, the updates aim to streamline patient access to healthcare data using apps of their choice through TEFCA.

The seven ONC-designated Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINs) can now adopt and begin implementing the new version of the Common Agreement.

ONC also published the Participant and Subparticipant Terms of Participation, which puts forth requirements that participants and subparticipants must comply with to participate in TEFCA.

The terms of participation aim to improve TEFCA by providing a standalone document that participants and subparticipants can integrate into existing data use agreements to decrease legal costs and burdens for organizations looking to participate in TEFCA.

"We have long intended for TEFCA to have the capacity to enable FHIR API exchange," Micky Tripathi, national coordinator for health information technology, said in a press release. "This is in direct response to the health IT industry's move toward standardized APIs with modern privacy and security safeguards, and allows TEFCA to keep pace with the advanced, secure data services approaches used by the tech industry."

"I want to commend the effort put forth by the TEFCA and FHIR communities to help get us there with the release of CA v2.0," Tripathi added.

Hannah Nelson has been covering news related to health information technology and health data interoperability since 2020.