Electronic health record vendor Oracle Health has formally submitted its application to become a Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN) under the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).

WHY IT MATTERS

The chief driver of its bid to become a QHIN is providing patients with better access to their health records, Oracle said in an announcement Monday.

"This builds on our long-standing leadership in driving interoperability to increase industry-wide efficiency and to help ensure patients retain control over their own data," said Seema Verma, Oracle Health and Life Sciences executive vice president and general manager, in a statement.

Oracle's interoperability network is being designed to support various data types, including X-rays and MRIs, the company noted. By expanding both the variety and volume of data, enhanced health data exchange could also help fuel advanced artificial intelligence capabilities that can help inform care decisions and treatment paths and streamline payments, Oracle said.

THE LARGER TREND

When Oracle indicated it would begin the QHIN process at its October health summit, the company said cloud infrastructure would reduce the technology layers needed for electronic health information sharing. 

Cloud could make data sharing faster for providers and payers in addition to being used as a secure data backup for patient information, and other cloud-based EHRs have also sought and achieved QHIN status. 

In January, ambulatory EHR vendor eClinicalWorks announced it became a designated QHIN. 

Other QHINs also rely on cloud tools to advance secure EHI exchange. EHR vendors like Meditech have partnered with Health Gorilla, a QHIN that leverages Amazon Web Services to secure its customers' health information exchanges. 

ON THE RECORD

"If designated, becoming a QHIN will help us enable providers, public health officials, patients and payers to securely access data that can help improve care delivery, deliver insight into community health and accelerate authorizations and reimbursements," Verma said in a statement.

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.