CommonWell Health Alliance this past week touted some news and new features following the launch of its new platform – with enhanced capabilities and new member companies going live with the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement.
WHY IT MATTERS
CommonWell, one of TEFCA’s seven qualified health information networks, says alliance members athenahealth, ModuleMD and Solace Health are among the first members to go live on the new platform – helping CommonWell link 36,000 providers with more secure and efficient exchange of health information.
CommonWell says new improvements to the platform, developed in collaboration with interoperability vendor ELLKAY, include new capabilities to enable smoother and more reliable data exchange across various health information systems.
The platform is designed to help ensure compliance with TEFCA’s national standards for health information exchange and broaden exchange capabilities to a wider network of healthcare providers. It is equipped with security improvements, including HITRUST certification, according to CommonWell – which also touts more streamlined integration and care-coordination workflows, and smoother onboarding for service adopters.
Meanwhile, the CommonWell Health Alliance continues its growth with the addition of three new members: AxiomEHR, Nightingale Technology and RXTrail.
The interoperability has expanded from its original six members in 2013 to more than 70 members today – connecting more 36,000 provider organizations and having exchanged more than 7.7 billion health records in support of more than 238 million patients.
THE LARGER TREND
In what could be a significant step forward for nationwide interoperability, Carequality, the decade-old interoperability initiative (founded one year after CommonWell’s initial vendors joined hands in 2013), comprising more than 45 networks linking more than 50,000 outpatient clinics and 4,200 hospitals, announced this past month that it will “thoughtfully align” with TEFCA.
CommonWell, which announced its TEFCA candidacy in 2023 and “made the team” as a QHIN earlier this year, has been working with Carequality on bidirectional data exchange for years.
ON THE RECORD
“The go-live of our new platform represents a significant leap forward in our efforts to enhance healthcare interoperability,” said CommonWell Health Alliance Executive Director Paul L. Wilder in a statement. “This empowers us to deliver on our promise of making critical health data accessible whenever and wherever it is needed. Plus, incorporating TEFCA services into the platform ensures that we are at the forefront of national health information exchange initiatives.”
“Our goal is to provide the most interoperable platform in healthcare and our longstanding partnership with CommonWell Health Alliance is integral to our success,” added Michael Palantoni, VP of platform services at athenahealth. “We’re excited to extend this relationship and connect to CommonWell’s QHIN so we can provide access to an expanded national network of data, with no additional cost or effort to our customers.”
Mike Miliard is executive editor of Healthcare IT News
Email the writer: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.
Source : Healthcare IT News