ONC Increases Funding to Expand TEFCA

The Sequoia Project will receive a 15% increase in funding for the upcoming contract year as it continues work to expand and mature the nationwide health information exchange network.

The US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has awarded The Sequoia Project funding for the next year under its existing five-year contract to serve as the Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) for the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).

The Sequoia Project will receive a 15% increase in funding for the upcoming contract year as it continues work to expand and mature the nationwide health information exchange network.

Over the past year, the RCE designated two additional Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINs), bringing the total number of QHINs in TEFCA to 11. The organization also conducted more than 100 meetings involving over 100 stakeholders and experts and supported the governing bodies responsible for the framework.

The Sequoia Project also published 13 policies during the year and launched a change management section on its website, allowing the public to review draft policies under consideration and provide feedback.

The TEFCA network has exchanged more than 1.5 billion documents since its launch in 2023, according to The Sequoia Project. More than 100,000 sites nationwide are now participating in health data exchange through the network.

TEFCA supports multiple exchange purposes, including treatment, healthcare operations, payment, public health, government benefits determination and individual access services (IAS). IAS enables consumers to share their health information with digital health platforms of their choice.

The Sequoia Project said its priorities for the coming year include network integrity, new exchange use cases and continued network growth. In April, the organization also published a Payer-to-Payer Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) API Compliance Readiness Checklist to help health plans prepare for data-sharing requirements under Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rules.

Several planned TEFCA updates covering exchange purposes, vetting and individual access services were moved from spring to summer and remain pending.

“The Sequoia Project’s RCE team is excited to continue supporting TEFCA’s growth and maturity,” said Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project and RCE lead. She added that the network currently represents more than 23,000 organizations nationwide, with additional organizations in the onboarding process.

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