The Sequoia Project’s Efforts to Make Healthcare Interoperability Work Better for Patients

Making sure health data sharing is accurate, useful, and accessible to the people who need it is where much of the industry’s work lies today and has been a central focus for The Sequoia Project. Thus, I was excited to speak with Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project, at their Annual Meeting about the organization’s progress and what’s next for interoperability. Yeager shared that the organization has delivered 16 guidance documents, webinars, and toolkits over the past year, covering topics such as data usability, privacy, consent, information blocking, and consumer access to health information.

Along with all of these guidance documents and guides, TEFCA continues to gain momentum, with 11 designated QHINs, two additional candidates going through onboarding, and more than two billion clinical documents exchanged. But Yeager says growth also brings greater responsibility around trust and oversight. The Sequoia Project is working to strengthen provider vetting, identity verification, monitoring, and governance to ensure participants are legitimate and information is exchanged appropriately.

Yeager also sees opportunities to expand TEFCA beyond traditional clinical exchange. A recent payer-provider exchange pilot demonstrated that information retrieved through TEFCA was comparable in quality to information gathered through manual processes, but much faster. What could take six weeks to collect manually for a population of 35,000 patients could be accomplished more efficiently through TEFCA.

Beyond TEFCA, The Sequoia Project continues to work on making exchanged information more useful through its Data Usability Taking Root initiative. Yeager also highlighted resources healthcare organizations should take advantage of, including information blocking compliance training, technical assistance, consumer engagement toolkits, and opportunities to participate in workgroups.  She pointed out how participating on a workgroup can be an extremely educational experience as you work through the details of a challenging interoperability problem.

Watch the full interview to hear Yeager discuss what’s next for TEFCA, why trust is becoming increasingly important, and how healthcare organizations can take advantage of The Sequoia Project’s resources to advance interoperability.

Learn more about The Sequoia Project: https://sequoiaproject.org/

Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.

And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter and YouTube.

Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.

The Sequoia Project is a proud sponsor of Healthcare Scene.

Making sure health data sharing is accurate, useful, and accessible to the people who need it is where much of the industry’s work lies today and has been a central focus for The Sequoia Project. Thus, I was excited to speak with Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project, at their Annual Meeting about the organization’s progress and what’s next for interoperability. Yeager shared that the organization has delivered 16 guidance documents, webinars, and toolkits over the past year, covering topics such as data usability, privacy, consent, information blocking, and consumer access to health information.

Along with all of these guidance documents and guides, TEFCA continues to gain momentum, with 11 designated QHINs, two additional candidates going through onboarding, and more than two billion clinical documents exchanged. But Yeager says growth also brings greater responsibility around trust and oversight. The Sequoia Project is working to strengthen provider vetting, identity verification, monitoring, and governance to ensure participants are legitimate and information is exchanged appropriately.

Yeager also sees opportunities to expand TEFCA beyond traditional clinical exchange. A recent payer-provider exchange pilot demonstrated that information retrieved through TEFCA was comparable in quality to information gathered through manual processes, but much faster. What could take six weeks to collect manually for a population of 35,000 patients could be accomplished more efficiently through TEFCA.

Beyond TEFCA, The Sequoia Project continues to work on making exchanged information more useful through its Data Usability Taking Root initiative. Yeager also highlighted resources healthcare organizations should take advantage of, including information blocking compliance training, technical assistance, consumer engagement toolkits, and opportunities to participate in workgroups.  She pointed out how participating on a workgroup can be an extremely educational experience as you work through the details of a challenging interoperability problem.

Watch the full interview to hear Yeager discuss what’s next for TEFCA, why trust is becoming increasingly important, and how healthcare organizations can take advantage of The Sequoia Project’s resources to advance interoperability.

Learn more about The Sequoia Project: https://sequoiaproject.org/

Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.

And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter and YouTube.

Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.

The Sequoia Project is a proud sponsor of Healthcare Scene.