image credit: pxhere
Anyone who has needed to schedule an appointment with a new doctor or meet with a specialist knows the hassle of making sure everyone in the health care chain has access to your health records. Digital record-keeping has made that a little easier, but that access still isn’t universal. Digital health care interoperability can still be a challenge.
That should all change in 2022 when the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) goes live. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is driving the effort, which will define “a common set of principles, terms and conditions to support the development of a Common Agreement that would help enable nationwide exchange of electronic health information (EHI) across disparate health information networks (HINs).”
