WEDI, the nation’s leading nonprofit authority on the use of health IT to create efficiencies in healthcare information exchange and a statutory advisor to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced the submission of recommendations to Don Rucker, M.D., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) pertaining to the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) Draft 2. Following the submission, WEDI today issued the following statement on behalf of Jay Eisenstock, Chair, WEDI Board of Directors:

“As ONC further develops their approach to advancing interoperability, we encourage the collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as well as industry stakeholders such as WEDI. As a multi‐stakeholder organization comprised of health plans, providers, vendors and SDOs, WEDI offers the structure for intra‐industry collaboration. WEDI has proven leadership engaging the industry to address the most impactful changes of our time, including the National Provider Identifier, ICD‐10, health claim attachments and prior authorization.”

Within the statement, WEDI focused its comments on those provisions specifically of interest to its membership. In addition to the specific regulatory, operational and tactical recommendations, WEDI offered the following general recommendations:

• WEDI supports the intent of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, however encourages ONC to ensure adequate industry notification of comment opportunities related to TEFCA. Formal regulatory comment periods are announced through the Federal Register and WEDI suggests a similar approach to ensure that all materially affected parties are aware of the opportunity to comment.
• WEDI encourages ONC to ensure there is adequate time for the health care industry to modify contracts and business associate agreements as well as notices of privacy practices. Ensuring the industry has the ability to implement all of these pieces, as well as any new agreements and documents needed, is critical to the overall goals of interoperability.

WEDI’s complete recommendations, which were submitted via the HealthIT.gov Web Portal, can be found on the WEDI website.