HIMSS Global Spotlight- TEFCA Update from the RCE

Join us at HIMSS 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 2:15 PM to 3:15 PM local time. Our speakers will be The Sequoia Project’s CEO, Mariann Yeager and Carequality’s Executive Director, Alan Swenson.

In 2019, the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC) awarded The Sequoia Project, and subcontractors including Carequality, a cooperative agreement to serve as the Recognized Coordinating Entity to help achieve the vision of a “network of networks.” In 2023, the contract was renewed for five more years. The RCE is responsible for developing, updating, implementing and maintaining the Common Agreement component of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement™. The Common Agreement will create the baseline technical and legal requirements for health information networks to share electronic health information and is part of the 21st Century Cures Act. The speakers will review the current scope and requirements of the TEFCA™ and the progress made by the RCE in collaboration with the Assistant Secretary of Technology and Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to include the Common Agreement and the Qualified Health Information Network® (QHIN™) Technical Framework. Opportunities for stakeholder and community input will be presented.