Carequality on Monday announced that its data exchange framework will expand to enable participation of federal government agencies.

WHY IT MATTERS
The eHealth Exchange – the main vehicle for federal agencies to exchange electronic healthcare information – joined Carequality in 2021.

While its private-sector participants were able to use the interoperability framework immediately to share data with other networks, that wasn't the case for federal agencies, who required specific policy language and contract agreements before they could participate through eHealth Exchange.

Those policy changes now have been made, officials say, enabling government agencies to opt into eHealth Exchange's Carequality Bridge.

The policy change was incorporated in an updated Carequality Connected Agreement effective on August 1. Officials say it's an important milestone – expanding the non-profit trusted exchange's value by promoting information exchange across the private and public sectors.

"The more ways we enable exchange of patient data when, where, and how it is needed – the better," said Jay Nakashima, executive director of the eHealth Exchange, in a statement.

"We already support more than 1 billion transactions monthly, but we'll always choose to expand that connectivity further to the benefit of our members and the healthcare providers and patients they serve – whether through Carequality, TEFCA, or whatever tomorrow brings. The eHealth Exchange and its members are excited about the new frontiers the industry is moving into."

THE LARGER TREND
At HIMSS22 earlier this year, National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi highlighted the value that exchanges – Carequality, eHealth Exchange, Commonwell and state and regional HIEs – are offering valuable network services, "primarily organization to organization, with high volume and high reliability."

eHealth Exchange – which earlier this year announced more than half a million dollars in interoperability innovation grants – has been racking up some milestones in recent years.

Watch our 2021 interview with Jay Nakashima here. And listen to this past week's HIMSSCast episode, on the present and future state of health information exchanges, here.

ON THE RECORD
"The Carequality Interoperability Framework is a living, evolving framework for health information exchange across networks, technologies, geographies and now private sector-government boundaries," said Alan Swenson, executive director of Carequality, in a statement.

"The more we can accommodate each and every type of organization and care setting that need access to electronic health information, the closer we get to the vision of true nationwide health data sharing. Federal agencies are a critical part of ensuring this vision."

Mike Miliard is executive editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email: mmiliard@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.