Oracle Chairman and Co-Founder Larry Ellison speaks at the Oracle OpenWorld 2017 conference in San Francisco, California, United States, Sunday, October 1, 2017.
David Paul Morris | David Paul Morris Bloomberg | Getty Images
Oracle on Monday declare It intends to join a new federally backed health network that will make it easier for clinics, hospitals and insurance companies to share patient data.
The network, called Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Protocol (TEFCA), was launched in December. Oracle acquired medical records giant Cerner for $28 billion in 2022, becoming the latest major vendor to support TEFCA, joining its main rival Epic Systems.
Oracle needs approval to join TEFCA, but its interest in doing so could help bolster the emerging network’s credibility. It also suggests that TEFCA may succeed in introducing new standards for data sharing 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 relevant data about a patient.
“This is just a natural next step,” Seema Verma, Oracle’s executive vice president and general manager of health and life sciences, told CNBC. “We don’t engage in information blackout. We don’t have a reputation for that.”
Oracle rival Epic has long been accused of dragging its feet on interoperability work, and Oracle isn’t afraid to call out the company. in a month of may Blog article“Everyone in the industry understands that Epic CEO Judy Faulkner is the biggest obstacle to EHR (electronic health record) interoperability,” Oracle executive vice president Ken Glueck wrote.
Epic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some companies and organizations have tried before to streamline the exchange of health care information, but TEFCA aims to help bring all these players together on a national scale. The ultimate goal of the network is to eventually standardize the legal and technical requirements for sharing patient data.
The main group participating in the exchange of health information through TEFCA is called the Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN). The networks participate on a voluntary basis – they are not paid – and must go through a two-step approval process to ensure they are eligible and have the necessary technical infrastructure.
Oracle said on Monday it would begin the process of becoming a QHIN. Seven QHINs, including Epic, are now operating within TEFCA.
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