Larry Ellison, chairman and co-founder of Oracle Corp, speaks during the Oracle OpenWorld 2017 conference in San Francisco, California, US, on Sunday, October 1, 2017.
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oracle It announced Monday that it intends to join a new federally backed medical network that will make it easier for clinics, hospitals and insurance companies to share patient data.
The network, called the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA, was launched in December. Oracle, which acquired medical records giant Cerner for $28 billion in 2022, is the latest major vendor to back TEFCA, joining its main rival Epic Systems.
Oracle needs to gain approval to join TEFCA, but its interest in doing so helps bolster the emerging network's credibility. It also suggests that TEFCA may succeed in setting a new standard for data exchange practices across the healthcare industry.
Sharing medical records between different hospitals, clinics and healthcare organizations is a very complex process. Healthcare data is stored in a variety of formats across dozens of different vendors, making it difficult for doctors and other providers to easily access all the data relevant to their patients.
“This is just a natural next step,” Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager of Oracle Health and Life Sciences, said in an interview with CNBC. “We're not interested in withholding information. We don't have that reputation.”
Oracle's rival Epic has long been accused of dragging its feet on interoperability efforts, and Oracle hasn't been afraid to call out the company. In a blog post in May, Ken Gluck, Oracle's executive vice president, wrote: “Everyone in the industry recognizes that Epic CEO Jody Faulkner is the biggest obstacle to EHR interoperability.”
“Epic hopes that today’s Oracle Health announcement signals that they are finally ready to take interoperability seriously — and deliver the technology that patients and providers deserve instead of making distracting and incorrect statements,” Epic said in a statement on Monday.
Many companies and organizations have previously tried to simplify the exchange of healthcare information, but TEFCA is designed to help bring all of these players together on a national scale. The ultimate goal of the network is to standardize the legal and technical requirements for sharing patient data.
The major groups that participate in exchanging health data through TEFCA are called Qualified Health Information Networks, or QHINs. These networks volunteer to participate – without being paid – and must go through a two-step approval process to ensure they are qualified and have the necessary technical infrastructure.
Oracle said Monday it will begin the process to become a QHIN. Seven QHINs, including Epic, are now located within TEFCA.
