Two organizations, Surescripts Well being Data Community LLC and the USA Certified Well being Data Community (USQHIN), a subsidiary of Velatura Public Profit Corp., are making use of to grow to be Certified Well being Data Networks (QHINs) underneath the Trusted Trade Framework and Frequent Settlement (TEFCA).  

There are actually 20 organizations formally search QHIN standing and 7 “candidate QHINS,” together with: CommonWell Well being Alliance, eHealth Trade, Epic, Well being Gorilla, Kno2, KONZA Nationwide Community and MedAllies. These are organizations which have had their functions accepted and are within the testing and challenge plan completion part of the appliance course of.

E-prescribing community firm Surescripts stated its community delivered clinicians 2.5 billion medicine histories and 1.25 billion hyperlinks to medical paperwork on the level of care in 2022. Its Surescripts Community Alliance consists of practically all digital well being information distributors, pharmacy profit managers, pharmacies and clinicians, plus well being plans, long-term and post-acute care organizations, affected person entry distributors and specialty pharmacy organizations.

“We are the largest interoperability firm within the nation already,” Frank Harvey, Surescripts’ CEO, instructed Healthcare Innovation in a latest interview. 

“We’re very assured that we are able to serve everybody throughout the spectrum of healthcare. And if you consider the Certified Well being Data, Networks in TEFCA, it actually does grow to be a community of networks, as you’ll, as a result of every one goes to achieve success bringing in individuals who can be their prospects,” Harvey added. “We actually suppose the staff at ONC has finished an exquisite job. If you consider what is the significance of this, it comes again to the affected person’s capacity to ensure they’re getting the appropriate therapy after they’re in entrance of a care supplier, as a result of with an incomplete medical document, they’re by no means certain that the appropriate selections are being made.”

Surescripts was a member of the Frequent Settlement Workgroup and labored with the Sequoia Challenge and ONC to draft the Frequent Settlement that established the infrastructure mannequin and governing strategy for securely sharing primary medical data between networks.

Moreover, Surescripts expertise, together with Surescripts Report Locator & Trade, relies on the HL7 FHIR normal that helps clinicians discover and retrieve medical paperwork exchanged through Carequality—a nationwide, consensus-based interoperability framework that permits data change amongst well being knowledge sharing networks.

Surescripts famous that it has been a pacesetter within the adoption of the FHIR normal, taking part in HL7 accelerators, together with the Argonaut Challenge, the DaVinci Challenge and FAST, aiming to fulfill the interoperability targets within the twenty first Century Cures Act.

USQHIN and guardian firm Velatura are strategic companions for HIEs, well being knowledge utilities, suppliers, payers, labs, sufferers, and public well being officers that share aggregated well being knowledge.  If accepted, QHIN designation would enable USQHIN to additional lengthen this functionality nationwide. 
Velatura was established to increase the Michigan Well being Data Community Shared Companies’ modular and scalable interoperability services and products for entry and use exterior of Michigan. For instance, Velatura serves because the infrastructure for the New Jersey Well being Data Community. It has labored with GaHIN, Georgia’s statewide HIE, to interchange its legacy HIE system with Velatura’s cloud-based HIE platform. Additionally, the Wisconsin Statewide Well being Data Community (WISHIN) chosen Velatura to function the back-end technical platform for the state designated HIE.

USQHIN stated it will submit its formal QHIN software in January 2024. 

“Interoperability is important for enhancing care coordination, enhancing the affected person expertise, and unlocking the complete potential of whole-person healthcare,” stated Tim Pletcher, D.H.A., govt director of USQHIN, in a press release. “USQHIN is a pacesetter within the secure, safe, and well timed change of healthcare data, and changing into a QHIN is the following logical step in our journey to enhance the care continuum by making invaluable knowledge accessible on the level of care. Attaining QHIN standing would allow us to make the most of our expertise and experience to affect coverage and decision-making round interoperability and FHIR-based change.”

The Frequent Settlement, launched in September 2021, consists of six change functions that organizations should help to be designated as a QHIN. The change functions embody Therapy, Cost, Well being Care Operations, Public Well being, Advantages Dedication, and Particular person Entry Companies.

USQHIN notes that it at present supplies a number of core companies required by the ONC for QHIN certification, together with Question and Response for EHI requests from contributors, finish consumer Message Supply to guarantee that data is seamlessly handed to its ultimate vacation spot from QHIN to QHIN, Particular person Entry Companies giving sufferers management of their data, Significant Alternative for people to find out how their private ePHI is disclosed and used, and ADT Hub, which is designed to extend the quantity and high quality of admission, discharge, and switch messages accessible to private and non-private contributors.