To enable federal agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to more securely exchange health data with private-sector providers, DirectTrust and Federal Health Architecture have set the terms for a new Governmental Trust Anchor Bundle.

Multiple federal agencies can now join and participate within the DirectTrust network of private sector health care organizations using Direct.

The FHA agreement will allow DirectTrust's federal partners to operate their Direct implementations within its Security and Trust Framework, officials say, with adherence to DirectTrust's Certificate and HISP Policies, the criteria of the EHNAC-DirectTrust accreditation programs and the terms and conditions of the DirectTrust Federated Services Agreement.

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Those elements offer what DirecTrust officials call "scalable trust" between Direct Messaging relying parties nationwide, without the need for one-to-one negotiations or one-off contracts.  The DirectTrust network currently reaches over one million users in over 50,000 health care organizations in all 50 states.

"This is a momentous day in the advancement of secure electronic health information exchange," said DirectTrust CEO David C. Kibbe, MD, in a statement.

DirectTrust hopes the bundle will enable easier use of Direct by state agencies – Medicaid and health insurance exchange programs, for example, and state health departments – that require the more stringent security controls contained in the new Governmental Trust Anchor Bundle.

"We look forward to secure electronic Direct messaging with attachments replacing fax and mail for care coordination among clinicians in government health facilities and their counterparts in the private sector," said Kibbe. "Considerable and significant benefits can be expected for the care of millions of Americans including, veterans and active duty military personnel, and their families."