HHS announces new TEFCA oversight efforts, growth in records exchanged

The Department of Health and Human Services June 26 announced new efforts to improve the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement. TEFCA is a common set of rules required by the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016 that securely and more easily exchanges healthcare information between networks and providers. HHS said the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology awarded a new contract to improve oversight of the network and verify that participating organizations are following TEFCA requirements. ONC is also conducting additional reviews of Qualified Health Information Networks and their participants to help ensure compliance. HHS said that the number of health records exchanged through TEFCA has grown from 10 million to more than 1 billion in less than one year.