ONC Releases Common Agreement Version 2.0
On April 22, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released Version 2.0 of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).
TEFCA establishes the technical infrastructure model and governing approach for different health information networks and their users and allows them to share clinical information with each other. The ONC requires health information networks that participate in TEFCA to begin implementing the new version and support the Health Level Seven Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources standard. ONC has also published Participant and Subparticipant Terms of Participation, which details the requirements for Participants and Subparticipants, compliance with which is required for participation in TEFCA. Version 2.0 of the Common Agreement will make it easier for participating health information networks to share data with each other and will also make it easier for patients to access their health data through digital health apps.
“We have long intended for TEFCA to have the capacity to enable FHIR API exchange. 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,” said Micky Tripathi, Ph.D., national coordinator for health information technology. “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.”
