Carequality

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Hospital Health Information Exchange by the Numbers

Kyle Murphy, PhD | EHR Intelligence | February 8, 2016

Health information exchange technology is in use among hospitals across the country.
While advancing interoperability is the aim of several current federal health IT initiatives, health information exchange is already occurring. The mechanisms for exchanging health data exchange differ as to their output and usability, but they do bridge information gaps between healthcare providers...

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How Industry Collaboration​ Shaped the Carequality Interoperability Framework

Key to the success of the Carequality Interoperability Framework was the enthusiastic participation of healthcare IT industry leaders and organizations and their collaboration with Carequality. This work was carried out under the guidance and direction of the Sequoia Project staff, with input from the Carequality Query Work Group.  Carequality, a public-private collaborative initiative of The Sequoia Project, creates a standardized, national-level interoperability framework to link all data sharing networks. The Carequality Interoperability Framework is a collection of documents that are used to operationalize data sharing that include...

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InterSystems Successfully Completes eHealth Exchange Product Testing to Ensure Interoperability

Press Release | InterSystems, Healtheway | January 8, 2015

InterSystems...today announced that the InterSystems HealthShare® informatics platform has successfully completed the eHealth Exchange Product Testing Program. As an eHealth Exchange Validated product, HealthShare supports a common set of standards and specifications that enable a secure, trusted, and interoperable connection among all participating eHealth Exchange organizations for the standardized flow of information, benefiting millions of patients. Read More »

Major Interoperability Initiative Launched During the Annual Meeting of The Sequoia Project

On December 5, 2019, HLN Consulting, LLC participated in The Sequoia Project's day long annual meeting which was held just outside of Washington, D.C. at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. As a leading healthcare informatics consulting company HLN monitors developments in healthcare interoperability nationally with particular emphasis on the impact to public health agencies and their stakeholders. This conference represented a good opportunity to participate in the start of a major interoperability initiative that will play out over the next several years. In addition to this report, the Sequoia Project posted the proceedings of the meeting online, including the recorded discussions as well as the slides from the presentations. Read More »

New EHR Interoperability Framework Touted as Game-Changer

Sara Heath | EHR Intelligence | December 7, 2015

Carequality has officially released its Carequality Interoperability Framework to streamline interoperability and health information exchange across the healthcare industry. According to a public statement, the Carequality Interoperability Framework will more thoroughly connect EHRs and HIEs by including important elements such as legal terms, policy requirements, technical specifications, and governance processes. Additionally, this new Interoperability Framework will include past frameworks such as the Sequoia Project’s Principles of Trust. Read More »

ONC Finally Releases TEFCA—What it Might Mean to Public Health

On January 18, 2022 the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) finally released version 1 of the Trusted Exchange Framework,  Common Agreement and the QHIN (Qualified Health Information Network) Technical Framework (QTF). Several years in the making, these documents represent the latest attempt at initiating a national health information exchange in the United States. This project is being managed by ONC’s Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE), The Sequoia Project, and was inspired by both the HITECH Act and 21st Century Cures Act.

ONC's 3rd Interoperability Forum: Not Much to Report

On August 21 and 22, 2019 the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) held its third Interoperability Forum in Washington, DC. More than 600 individuals participated in person with many others viewing the general sessions via webinar. The conference began and ended with half-day plenary sessions while providing five tracks with smaller sessions in between. I attended the Health Information Exchange (HIE)/Community-based Information Exchange (CIE) breakout session on both days. The plenaries...focused on the current state and the future state of interoperability.

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ONC's Trusted Exchange—A Public Health Perspective

In January 2018 the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) issued a draft Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), and related supporting documents, in response to a requirement imposed by Congress in the 21st Century Cures Act. The Act says that the TEF may include a common method for authenticating users, a common set of rules, enabling policies, and a process for managing non-compliance. Nowhere does the Act instruct ONC to determine an actual technical architecture in this process, though such a step is not precluded either. The primary document is in two parts: Part 1 is a set of principles that set the foundation for Part 2 which is a set if minimum terms and conditions for trusted exchange.

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Patient Record Sharing Increases Using Carequality Interoperability Framework

Press Release | Carequality, The Sequoia Project | August 16, 2016

Nationwide health data sharing takes another leap forward as the early adopters of Carequality announced they’ve made it easier to exchange data between different electronic health record systems (EHRs), record locator services (RLS), and health information exchanges (HIEs), leveraging a central provider directory and common set of rules. At select sites, providers using athenahealth®, eClinicalWorks, Epic, HIETexas, NextGen and Surescripts are now sharing health information with other providers using the Carequality Interoperability Framework...

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The Evolving Landscape of Health Information Exchange

The original vision for nationwide health information exchange was a “network of networks” model where local HIEs would interact HIE-to-HIE to form a virtual national network. But notice that many of the new initiatives are essentially solving a different problem: they are enabling point-to-point connections across a wider geography and set of clinical sites. This seems more like a large, single national network rather than leverage of more distributed organizations or implementations. Only time will tell if these private sector initiatives will collaborate, converge or compete. And only time will tell of the limitations of ONC’s ability to influence and provide leadership will creates gaps or provide new opportunities for innovation.

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The HITECH Era in Retrospect

John D. Halamka, M.D. and Micky Tripathi, Ph.D. | The New England Journal of Medicine | September 7, 2017

At a high level, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 accomplished something miraculous: the vast majority of U.S. hospitals and physicians are now active users of electronic health record (EHR) systems. No other sector of the U.S. economy of similar size (one sixth of the gross domestic product) and complexity (more than 5000 hospitals and more than 500,000 physicians) has undergone such rapid computerization...

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The New Rules of Healthcare Platforms (Part 4): APIs Enable the Platforming of Healthcare

Recent regulations have mandated the use of HL7 FHIR APIs (application programming interfaces) to share health data. The regs apply to healthcare providers, payers, and technology developers who participate in federal programs. Many incumbent healthcare organizations are viewing these mandates as a compliance burden. That’s short-sighted. We recommend a more opportunistic POV. APIs facilitate the sharing of health data across different devices and platforms. By adopting APIs, healthcare organizations can transform themselves from traditional service providers into powerful platforms that can connect patients, providers, and other stakeholders in new and innovative ways.

Walgreen, UnitedHealth, Epic Form Carequality To Share Patient Data

Zina Moukheiber | Forbes | February 24, 2014

How many organizations do we need to facilitate the electronic transfer of patient information from one health care provider to another? A few, it seems. Read More »

Will Carequality Lead EHR Vendors to EHR Interoperability?

Kyle Murphy, PhD | EHR Intelligence | January 27, 2016

The Sequoia Project and Carequality have taken significant steps forward in advancing EHR interoperability by brokering agreements with several health IT vendors to implement its framework for point-to-point health information exchange. Five big names in health IT — Epic Systems, athenahealth, eClincalWorks, NextGen Healthcare, and Surescripts — recently signed on to be the first implementers of the Carequality Interoperability Framework, the legal agreement that streamlines the sharing of health information between these various systems. Read More »