Health Care Interoperability: What Are the Security Considerations?


Anyone who has needed to schedule an appointment with a new doctor or meet with a specialist knows the hassle of making sure everyone in the health care chain has access to your health records. Digital record-keeping has made that a little easier, but that access still isn’t universal. Digital health care interoperability can still be a challenge. 


That should all change in 2022 when the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) goes live. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is driving the effort, which will define “a common set of principles, terms and conditions to support the development of a Common Agreement that would help enable nationwide exchange of electronic health information (EHI) across disparate health information networks (HINs).”


On the one hand, this is a much-needed advance. It can make it easier for health care workers and patients to share and access protected health information (PHI). TEFCA will also drive health care interoperability. On the other hand, TEFCA could present major challenges. It affects PHI security, data privacy and overall HIPAA compliance and health care interoperability and cybersecurity overall.


The Overall State of Health Care Cybersecurity


Health care cybersecurity is in a tenuous state. Attacks against the health care industry increased by more than 55% in 2020, according to a study from Bitglass, compromising the PHI of at least 26 million patients across the country. During the pandemic, one in three health care facilities had to deal with a ransomware attack, health interoperability security considerations