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Information blocking penalties have been loose or nonexistent in the past, and that is changing, Bob Watson, CEO of Health Gorilla, said in this week's podcast.
In June, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced an effort to lead infrastructure progress, and the following month, the Trump Administration announced a new federal Health Technology Ecosystem to advance data sharing capabilities.
Along with "consistent and meaningful" government follow-up over the last few months, participation in Qualified Health Information Networks under the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, like Health Gorilla's, is rapidly picking up pace, Watson explained.
"For one client alone, I think we have onboarded over 100 hospitals and thousands of physicians this year."
That level of material lift has Health Gorilla's connectivity networks up 30%-40% overall, and it's improving access to patient data, including in the value-based care arena, he said.
While seamless digital onboarding, longitudinal record-sharing, and artificial intelligence-assisted care navigation are voluntary, VBC organizations are gaining greater access to a comprehensive view of the patients for whom they are responsible.
The need to deliver timely patient care for people who are at risk is high, he said, and onboarding with a QHIN has one provider experiencing three to five times the ROI.
"But ultimately, the real benefit of this is improved patient care."
Listen here to learn more about how the push from TEFCA is advancing patient health data exchange.
This episode is brought to you by athenahealth.
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Talking points:
- Efforts to curb fraud, waste and abuse are pushing TEFCA
- Providers can expect TEFCA enforcement under CMS
- Early adopters who access historic patient information are improving patient care
- TEFCA expansion
More about this episode:
ASTP's LEAP Health IT awards focus on privacy in patient data exchange
CMS taps tech firms for new patient health data ecosystem
Industry groups offer feedback on CMS and ASTP health tech ecosystem request
ASTP continues with The Sequoia Project for TEFCA implementation
HHS agencies move to expand patient access, push forward on interoperability
