EMPOWER ALL PATIENTS
HIV DATA
MENTAL HEALTH DATA
ADOLESCENT DATA
SUBSTANCE USE DATA
EP3 FOUNDATION fully aligns with ONC’s TEFCA goals to empower all patients with the capacity to gather, use and share their health information with the providers and individuals with whom they choose.
Patient-centered care requires that patients and their providers access the information needed to ensure their safety and well being. We believe all patients need to access and use their health information.
Some health information requires extra privacy and confidentiality protections, such as mental health, substance use, reproductive health and HIV testing and treatments.
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More than 42 million American adults suffer anxiety.
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10.2 million adults have co-occurring mental health and addiction disorders.
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26% of homeless adults staying in shelters live with a serious mental illness.
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Serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings every year
Systems unequipped to provide the identity, consent, and confidentiality requirements leave these vulnerable patients without the capacity to coordinate their care.
Additionally, in some states, like California, 12 years olds have the legal right to receive confidential behavioral health services. Unless the adolescent provides specific permission, mental health, substance use, and reproductive health information cannot be shared with other providers or even their parents.
1 in 5 adults in America experience a mental illness.
One-half of all chronic mental illness begins by the age of 14; three-quarters by the age of 24.
Providing these patients with integrated or whole person care requires trust frameworks to accommodate granular permission and confidentiality sharing agreements.
Nearly 1 in 25 (10 million) adults in America live with a serious mental illness
This document cites statistics provided by the National Institute of Mental Health.
TEFCA GOALS
NATIONWIDE INTEROPERABILITY
PATIENT ACCESS
Patients must be able to access their health information electronically without any special effort.
POPULATION-LEVEL DATA EXCHANGE
Population-level Data Exchange Providers and payer organizations accountable for managing benefits can receive population-level health information allowing them to analyze population health trends, outcomes, and costs; identify at-risk populations and track progress on quality improvements initiatives.
OPEN AND ACCESSIBLE APIs
The health information technology (health IT) community should have open and accessible application programming interfaces (APIs) to encourage entrepreneurial, user-focused innovation to make health information more accessible and to improve electronic health record (EHR) usability.
ONC's Trusted Exchange Framework aims to create a technical and governance infrastructure that connects Health Information Networks together through a core of Qualified Health Information Networks.
PART A: GUIDING PRINCIPLES
General principles that provide guardrails to engender trust between Health Information Networks.
Adhere to recognized standards, policies, best practices, and procedures
STANDARDIZED
Conduct all exchange openly and transparently
TRANSPARENT
Exchange electronic health information with all stakeholders across the continuum of care even when they are business competitors
COLLABORATE
SAFE & SECURE
Exchange information securely in a manner that promotes patient safety and ensures data integrity
ACCESS
Ensure patients and caregivers have easy access to their electronic health information regardless of location or legacy IT
ACCOUNTABILITY
Exchange multiple records at one time to identify outcomes and trends to reduce costs and improve the health of the population
RECOGNIZED COORDINATING ENTITY
The RCE will act as a governance body that will operationalize the Trusted Exchange Framework by incorporating it into a single, all-encompassing Common Agreement
COMMON AGREEMENT
The RCE will incorporate the Part B requirements into a single Common Agreement
OPERATIONS
The RCE will be tasked with operationalizing the Trusted Exchange Framework
PART B: TERMS AND CONDITIONS
A minimum set of terms and conditions ensure that common practices are required to participate in the Trusted Exchange Framework.
“This is really a network of networks concept”
Don Rucker, M.D.
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology