February 5, 2019–CommonWell Health Alliance today announced a new option for health IT vendors and health care practitioners looking to connect to the nationwide CommonWell interoperability network. Through creation of this new CommonWell Connector™ program, participating CommonWell members who provide integration platforms and services will now be able to offer CommonWell services to their customers, including both to provider organizations and to other end-user facing platforms such as EHRs.
“The CommonWell network enables participating practitioners to meaningfully engage in data exchange to provide the best care possible for their patients,” said Jitin Asnaani, CommonWell Health Alliance executive director. “With this new option, organizations interested in connecting to CommonWell, such as EHRs, can dramatically reduce the development effort required to connect to the CommonWell network and enable their clients to participate in – and derive value from – this data sharing.”
With anticipated regulatory changes on the horizon for the health IT industry, connectivity to the CommonWell network can help health care organizations meet their health information exchange (HIE) performance measures for the CMS Promoting Interoperability Programs and 21st Century Cures, in particular, the upcoming regulation on Data Blocking and the Trusted Exchange Framework & Common Agreement (“TEFCA”).
EHRs and HIT vendors connecting to CommonWell via a CommonWell Connector would not be required to become a CommonWell member or certify their products on the CommonWell network. The member serving as the CommonWell Connector will have a certified CommonWell ConnectedTM product and act as the intermediary for the connection.
CommonWell will enable certified CommonWell Connectors to minimally pass-through its flow-down terms to their connected EHRs while enabling those CommonWell Connectors to include additional services, as needed by their customers. CommonWell Connectors can also include and promote the CommonWell services and network connectivity as part of their client offerings.
A few CommonWell members are among the first to become CommonWell Connectors, including Health Gorilla, which plans to begin offering the connection in early summer, and InterSystems, which plans to offer it later this year.
“The CommonWell Connector program is a huge leap forward for clinical interoperability,” said Steve Yaskin, CEO and co-founder of Health Gorilla. “We’re proud to be among the first members to offer CommonWell services to provider organizations, digital health companies and EHRs through the Health Gorilla platform. Together, we can rally the entire ecosystem to improve access to high quality care, especially in underserved markets like Puerto Rico.”
“As a CommonWell Connector, InterSystems will enable users of our HealthShare suite of connected health solutions to utilize a vast network of clinical data,” said Don Woodlock, vice president of HealthShare for InterSystems. “Doing so gives a more comprehensive view of the patient and drives care toward the triple aim of improving the health of populations, reducing the cost of care, and improving the patient’s overall experience.”
For organizations interested in becoming or working with CommonWell Connectors, visit our contact page.
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About CommonWell Health Alliance
CommonWell Health Alliance is a not-for-profit trade association of health care and technology organizations working together to create universal access to health data nationwide. CommonWell members represent more than 20 care settings, including market leaders and technology innovators in acute, ambulatory and post-acute care, patient portals, imaging, population health, emergency services and more. CommonWell and its members are committed to the belief that provider access to health data must be built into information technologies at a reasonable cost for use by a broad range of health care providers and the populations and people they serve.
To learn more about CommonWell Health Alliance, visit commonwellalliance.org. Engage with CommonWell on our blog, as well as through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter using the handle, @CommonWell. CommonWell Health Alliance® and the CommonWell Logo are registered trademarks of CommonWell Health Alliance Inc.