How to Prepare Your Organization for TEFCA-Scale Data Exchange

A billion exchanged records means your data will travel: designate an exchange owner, audit consent workflows, map where sensitive categories live, and treat information-blocking compliance as an operating requirement rather than a legal afterthought.

The context

Consider the current numbers: tEFCA crossed one billion exchanged health records this summer, up from 10 million in under a year (our coverage).

Meanwhile, kLAS reports Epic added 77 hospitals while Oracle Health shed 56, and overall EHR purchasing fell about 40% as budgets shift to AI (our coverage).

The playbook

Start small and instrument everything: a single service line, a named executive owner, and a weekly metric review beat any big-bang rollout. Put clinicians in the selection room before the contract is signed, not after. Negotiate data rights and exit terms while you still have leverage. And publish your results internally - programs that show their numbers keep their funding.

The bottom line

For leaders building 2027 plans, this belongs on the shortlist of capabilities to own rather than outsource. Follow the category daily on our Health IT & Interoperability page.