Two organizations, Surescripts Well being Info Community LLC and the US Certified Well being Info Community (USQHIN), a subsidiary of Velatura Public Profit Corp., are making use of to develop into Certified Well being Info Networks (QHINs) below the Trusted Trade Framework and Frequent Settlement (TEFCA).
There at the moment are 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 mission plan completion part of the applying course of.
E-prescribing community firm Surescripts stated its community delivered clinicians 2.5 billion treatment 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 current interview.
“We’re very assured that we are able to serve everybody throughout the spectrum of healthcare. And if you concentrate on the Certified Well being Info, Networks in TEFCA, it actually does develop into a community of networks, as you’ll, as a result of every one goes to achieve success bringing in individuals who will likely be their clients,” Harvey added. “We actually assume the group at ONC has executed a beautiful job. If you concentrate on what is the significance of this, it comes again to the affected person’s skill to verify they’re getting the fitting remedy after they’re in entrance of a care supplier, as a result of with an incomplete medical report, they’re by no means positive that the fitting choices are being made.”
Surescripts was a member of the Frequent Settlement Workgroup and labored with the Sequoia Venture and ONC to draft the Frequent Settlement that established the infrastructure mannequin and governing method for securely sharing primary medical info between networks.
Moreover, Surescripts expertise, together with Surescripts Document Locator & Trade, relies on the HL7 FHIR customary that helps clinicians discover and retrieve medical paperwork exchanged by way of Carequality—a nationwide, consensus-based interoperability framework that permits info change amongst well being information sharing networks.
Surescripts famous that it has been a frontrunner within the adoption of the FHIR customary, collaborating in HL7 accelerators, together with the Argonaut Venture, the DaVinci Venture and FAST, aiming to satisfy the interoperability objectives within the twenty first Century Cures Act.
USQHIN and father or mother firm Velatura are strategic companions for HIEs, well being information utilities, suppliers, payers, labs, sufferers, and public well being officers that share aggregated well being information. If accepted, QHIN designation would enable USQHIN to additional lengthen this functionality nationwide.
Velatura was established to increase the Michigan Well being Info Community Shared Providers’ modular and scalable interoperability services for entry and use outdoors of Michigan. For instance, Velatura serves because the infrastructure for the New Jersey Well being Info Community. It has labored with GaHIN, Georgia’s statewide HIE, to switch its legacy HIE system with Velatura’s cloud-based HIE platform. Additionally, the Wisconsin Statewide Well being Info Community (WISHIN) chosen Velatura to function the back-end technical platform for the state designated HIE.
USQHIN stated it will submit its formal QHIN utility in January 2024.
“Interoperability is crucial for enhancing care coordination, bettering the affected person expertise, and unlocking the complete potential of whole-person healthcare,” stated Tim Pletcher, D.H.A., government director of USQHIN, in an announcement. “USQHIN is a frontrunner within the protected, safe, and well timed change of healthcare info, and turning into a QHIN is the subsequent logical step in our journey to enhance the care continuum by making invaluable information out there on the level of care. Reaching 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 assist to be designated as a QHIN. The change functions embrace Therapy, Fee, Well being Care Operations, Public Well being, Advantages Dedication, and Particular person Entry Providers.
USQHIN notes that it at present offers a number of core providers required by the ONC for QHIN certification, together with Question and Response for EHI requests from individuals, finish person Message Supply to guarantee that info is seamlessly handed to its ultimate vacation spot from QHIN to QHIN, Particular person Entry Providers giving sufferers management of their info, Significant Selection for people to find out how their private ePHI is disclosed and used, and ADT Hub, which is designed to extend the amount and high quality of admission, discharge, and switch messages out there to private and non-private individuals.
