Source
2022 American Hospital Association Health Information Technology Supplement.
Citation
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. ‘Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals’ Awareness of and Plans to Participate in the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA)’ Health IT Quick Stat #64.
The Trusted Exchange Framework and the Common Agreement (TEFCA) for health information networks was published in January of 2022 and is planned to be live in 2023. A 2022 survey of U.S. hospitals found that half of hospitals plan to participate in TEFCA.
Differences in awareness and plans to participate in TEFCA at this early stage can provide insight into the hospitals and populations most likely to participate in and benefit from TEFCA. Just 18% of hospitals that do not participate in one of three national networks (eHealth exchange, CommonWell or Carequality) plan to participate compared to 65% of hospitals that already participate in one of the national networks. Further information on interpreting this data is available in a post on the Health IT Buzz Blog.
| Aware of TEFCA and plan to participate | Aware of TEFCA but not planning to participate | Aware of TEFCA and do not know if they plan to participate | Not aware of TEFCA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Overall |
51% |
1% |
23% |
25% |
| Aware of TEFCA and plan to participate | Aware of TEFCA but not planning to participate | Aware of TEFCA and do not know if they plan to participate | Not aware of TEFCA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
System Affiliation |
||||
|
Multi-Hospital |
61% |
1% |
21% |
17% |
|
Independent Hospital (31%) |
29% |
2% |
26% |
43% |
|
Critical Access |
||||
|
Critical Access Hospital (30%) |
32% |
1% |
27% |
40% |
|
Not Critical |
59% |
1% |
21% |
19% |
|
National Network (Carequality, CommonWell, or eHealth Exchange) Participant |
||||
|
National Network Participant (67%) |
65% |
1% |
20% |
14% |
|
Not National |
18% |
3% |
29% |
51% |
Data are from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Information Technology (IT) Supplement to the AHA Annual Survey. Since 2008, ONC has partnered with the AHA to measure the adoption and use of health IT in U.S. hospitals.
The chief executive officer of each U.S. hospital was invited to participate in the survey regardless of AHA membership status. The person most knowledgeable about the hospital’s health IT (typically the chief information officer) was requested to provide the information via a mail survey or secure online site. Non-respondents received follow-up mailings and phone calls to encourage response.
The 2022 survey was fielded from July 2022 to December 2022. The response rate for non-federal acute care hospitals was 54 percent in 2022. A logistic regression model was used to predict the propensity of survey response as a function of hospital characteristics, including size, ownership, teaching status, system membership, and availability of a cardiac intensive care unit, urban status, and region. Hospital-level weights were derived by the inverse of the predicted propensity.
Two questions related to TEFCA were included on the 2022 AHA IT Supplement. Respondents were first asked, “Are you aware of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA)?” Hospitals could respond “Yes,” or “No.” Those that responded “Yes” were subsequently asked “Are you planning to participate in TEFCA exchange (such as through your HIE or other national network)?” and could respond, “Yes,” “No,” and “Don’t know”.
Hospitals were categorized as participating in a national network based on whether they indicated participating in one of three national networks on the 2022 AHA IT Supplement: Carequality, CommonWell Health Alliance, and eHealth Exchange. Data on critical access hospital status and multi-hospital system membership were retrieved from the 2021 AHA Annual Survey.