The topic of TEFCA and QHINs has been an extremely important one in the world of healthcare IT and particularly when it comes to healthcare interoperability. In many ways, it’s setting the national infrastructure for healthcare interoperability going forward. So, we should be paying attention.
As we continue to learn about how the industry is responding to TEFCA and which organizations are planning to apply to be a QHIN, we thought it would be valuable to sit down with CommonWell and a CommonWell member, MEDITECH, to learn more about their thoughts on TEFCA and CommonWell’s choice to apply to be a QHIN. In the video interview below, Mike Cordeiro, Director Interoperability Market and Product Strategy at MEDITECH, and Paul Wilder, Executive Director of CommonWell Health Alliance share their insights on these important topics.
Before we dove into the topic of TEFCA and QHINs, I asked Wilder to share about CommonWell and their relationship with EHR vendors. Cordeiro also shared MEDITECH’s perspective on working with CommonWell. They both shared what it’s like to work alongside multiple competing vendor voices where they are working collaboratively towards the goal of interoperable health data.
Then, we dove into how CommonWell is approaching TEFCA and what Wilder described as the obvious decision for CommonWell to apply to be a QHIN. He also shares how the EHR members of CommonWell will benefit from CommonWell being a QHIN. Cordeiro shared how MEDITECH’s client base will be able to take advantage of the benefits CommonWell supporting TEFCA will provide implementers like MEDITECH. This is a slightly different approach than EHR vendors like Epic and NextGen which have said they plan to apply to be a QHIN. However, it seems like both approaches will have similar benefits to end users.
One other topic we discussed was the ability to locate patient records. Wilder talked about the CommonWell model for locating patient records across all its members and how he’s hoping that QHIN will take a similar approach. This means that a doctor searching would know where there are patient records versus having to fish in multiple locations to see if they can find anything. Check out the video below to learn more about this important topic.
Finally, we ask Wilder and Cordeiro where they envision Interoperability advancing in the future and what’s holding the industry back. If you are interested in interoperability, TEFCA, and QHINs, you’ll enjoy this video interview below.
Learn more about CommonWell: https://www.commonwellalliance.org/
Learn more about MEDITECH: https://ehr.meditech.com/
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