ONC Expands TEFCA with Two Additional Health Information Networks
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that two new organizations have been designated as Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINs) and have been added to the nationwide data exchange governed by the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).
TEFCA was envisioned by the 21st Century Cures Ac to support nationwide interoperability and became operational in December 2023 when the first five QHINs were designated by ONC – eHealth Exchange, Epic Nexus, Health Gorilla, KONZA, and MedAllies. The addition of two new QHINs – CommonWell Health Alliance and Kno2 – brings the total up to seven.
ONC has confirmed that CommonWell Health Alliance and Kno2 can immediately begin supporting the exchange of data under TEFCA and can provide shared services and governance to securely route queries, responses, and messages across networks for healthcare stakeholders including patients, providers, hospitals, health systems, 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,” said Micky Tripathi, Ph.D., national coordinator for health information technology. “On behalf of ONC, I want to congratulate CommonWell Health Alliance and Kno2 for their achievement.”
