One of the most important initiatives in interoperability today is the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, otherwise known as TEFCA.
I recently participated in a discussion with Steven Lane, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Health Gorilla, to discuss the role of TEFCA in improving patient care coordination, facilitating better-informed medical decisions and improving operational efficiency. Lane has an extensive career as a primary care physician and clinical informaticist, and he has long dedicated his efforts to improve healthcare through technology. He notes that trust is the cornerstone of the TEFCA framework — trust that its use is both appropriate and transparent.
TEFCA’s various goals
“Beyond patient treatment, TEFCA also aims to include individual access services, payment, healthcare operations, public health exchange and public benefits determination,” he says.
“Individual access services are particularly intriguing, as giving patients greater control over their personal health information has long been a goal of interoperability efforts,” Lane adds. “This broad scope underscores the importance of data quality and hints at the potential for even more future exchange purposes, such as supporting research.”
While TEFCA holds great promise, it is not without its challenges. The primary challenge is clinician adoption. Despite the benefits of interoperability, getting clinicians to embrace new systems and workflows can be difficult. Lane notes. "Clinician adoption remains a challenge, but the key is bringing this exchange data into workflow and making it actionable."
Read the full article at Health Data Management and register for MEDITECH's next Thought Leader webinar, "Talking TEFCA: How to Turn Interoperability into a Competitive Advantage".
