CommonWell Health Alliance’s new CommonWell Connector program will allow its members that provide integration platforms and services to offer CommonWell services to their customers, including provider organizations and EHRs.
The first members who will become CommonWell Connectors are Health Gorilla, which plans to begin offering the connection in early summer, and InterSystems, which plans to offer it later this year.
In a press release, Health Gorilla said it would enable provider organizations and digital health vendors to exchange health data using FHIR transactions and leverage new solutions like advanced patient matching and identity verification. It added that providers could leverage Health Gorilla’s Patient360 to retrieve data for their patients from any clinical records system in the CommonWell network and Carequality Framework. CommonWell said it would enable certified CommonWell Connectors to minimally pass-through its flow-down terms to their connected EHRs while enabling those Connectors to include additional services. They can also include and promote the CommonWell services and network connectivity as part of their client offerings.
Commonwell noted that this new arrangement could help healthcare organizations meet 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).
“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, in a prepared statement. “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.”
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 Connected product and act as the intermediary for the connection.
