The folks behind CONNECT, based on feedback from community members going through ONC onboarding, have made version 3.3.1 available.

CONNECT essentially uses National Health Information Exchange (NwHIN) standards and protocols for secure health information exchange. ONC issued the latest full release, that being 3.3, on March 16 of this year, with improved performance, usability, and higher exchange volume features.

Describing this week's 3.3.1 release as a patch, the group explained that it carries two main features. The first, which was a request from the Social Security Administration, enables users to tap both PurposeOfUse and PurposeForUse, dependent on the end-point, whereas CONNECT 3.3 supported one or the other.

[See also: NwHIN Exchange set to 'stand on its own' this October.]

The second improvement in 3.3.1 focuses on enhanced audit logging. This code submission from the VLER support team provides "an option to not include Retrieve Documents or Document Submission request or response payloads in the Audit Message," according to the CONNECT team.

"The CONNECT Product Team now recommends that all community members use release 3.3.1 instead of 3.3 for better performance," the group said on its Web page announcing the patch. "This is especially recommended for adopters who will be onboarding to the Nationwide Health Information Network Exchange."

[See also: ONC releases Connect 3.3, looks ahead to ConnectPlus.]

HHS, ONC and the Federal Health Architecture are planning to stand up the NwHIN exchange in October as a non-federal, non-profit entity comprising at least 25 partners including a broad mix of private sector providers and federal agencies including CMS, DoD, SSA and the VA.

Interested parties can download CONNECT 3.3.1 from the group's website.