The federal government recently announced new oversight measures for the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement™ (TEFCA®) network. TEFCA is the U.S. nationwide framework for health information sharing (see HHS Expands Secure Access To Health Records Through The TEFCA^® Network, Announces Milestone Of One Billion Health Records Exchanged). It allows consumers and health care provider organizations to securely share information via their electronic health recordkeeping (EHR) systems. 

The exchange of information by individual provider organizations occurs through Qualified Health Information Networks™ (QHIN™) – the individual networks that make up the central connection points that are the backbone of TEFCA. QHINs use TEFCA’s technical standards and specifications to share electronic health information, so this network-of-networks enables the exchange of health data across the nation.

Over 21,000 entities representing over 96,000 unique clinical and public health…