Interoperability gains momentum through federal and broader efforts
TEFCA and patient safety initiatives are building critical mass to push broader sharing of patients’ healthcare information.
Momentum toward interoperability is growing, both nationally and internationally.
While federal initiatives are leading the way from the U.S. perspective, private sector efforts are also garnering support.
The continuing momentum bodes well for information exchange finally achieving the long-awaited potential benefits for clinicians and patients alike.
Federal progress
The Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) is showing results in facilitating the electronic exchange of health information.
In February at the 2026 annual meeting of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, the agency reported that nearly 500 million health records have been exchanged through TEFCA, being molded as the nation’s interoperability network.
Thomas Keane, MD, assistant secretary for technology policy and national coordinator for Health IT, acknowledged progress in exchanging records seamlessly and securely. The agency also is increasing efforts to prevent information blocking, enabling technology to use better access to health information in efforts to lower costs for patients and reduce provider burdens.
Federal efforts continue to advance health data standardization through the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI). The agency released a draft of the seventh version of the core data set in January, proposing 29 new data elements, as well as a revision to another element on a patient’s smoking status, to directly aid interoperability.
In February, ASTP/ONC officially launched the EHIgnite Challenge, through which nearly $500,000 is available for organizations interested in innovating solutions to transform raw electronic health information into actionable insights for patients and clinicians. The intent is to improve the usability, readability and actionability of single-patient EHI exports.
“The EHIgnite Challenge will catalyze the development of tools and workflows, focused on the application of AI, that transform raw EHI into clear, usable information to better support care transitions, provider onboarding, and patient understanding and engagement,” the agency says. Awards will support both concept development and prototype solutions through 2027.
More information on EHIgnite Challenge can be found here.
Additional efforts
Also gaining momentum is an effort by the Patient Safety Movement Foundation to build support for its Open Data Pledge, a global initiative to make patient-generated clinical data more accessible, secure and actionable.
The organization’s main goal is to reduce the negative effects of harm caused by siloed information. It seeks to improve information exchange because when “patients, clinicians, industry and policymakers align around shared accountability, knowledge is transformed into tools that make care safer.”
At the end of March, PSMF announced that three more companies have signed its Open Data Pledge, which aims to reinforce “a growing global movement among healthcare and technology leaders to unlock the life-saving potential of clinical data while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and security.”
“Preventable patient harm remains one of the most urgent challenges in healthcare,” said Joe Kiani, founder of PSMF. “By welcoming Clairity, Dedalus and Delfina Care to the Open Data Pledge, we are accelerating progress toward a future where data flows seamlessly to enable predictive algorithms to assist clinicians to make timely decisions. Predictive algorithms are essential to achieving our goal of zero patient safety incidents by 2030.”
Through their pledges, participating organizations affirm that patient-generated clinical data should serve the best interests of patients by supporting safe, informed and timely care wherever it is delivered. “The organizations committed to promoting interoperability and enabling secure, compliant access to relevant data while safeguarding patient privacy and adhering to all applicable data privacy and healthcare industry regulations,” the PSMF announced.
The pledge commits participants to ensure that data generated by medical technologies – including EHRs, medical devices and other clinical systems – are “accessible in responsible, secure and meaningful ways.” More than 90 companies and organizations are now signatories to the pledge.
“By enabling appropriate access to this data, signatories empower clinicians, caregivers, researchers and innovators to make more informed and timely decisions, through AI-driven predictive algorithms that improve care delivery and ultimately enhance patient safety,” the organization said in a statement.
Michael Ramsay, MD, the PSMF’s CEO, added, “Sharing data is so important for the creation of predictive algorithms that will save lives and ultimately protect our loved ones.”
Better data exchange has the potential to solve the problem of data fragmentation, which PSMF contends is a major patient safety risk that limits clinicians’ ability to act quickly. Additionally, interoperability is a critical factor in supporting AI-driven care. The pledge has a narrow focus on sharing patient-generated clinical data, not proprietary algorithms or intellectual property.
“PSMF positions this as a critical step toward a more connected healthcare ecosystem where data can be used in real-time to improve outcomes and prevent harm,” a spokesperson explained.
Fred Bazzoli is Editor in Chief of Health Data Management.