We are happy to announce that Carequality Framework Policies v2.0 and Technical Trust Policy v4.0 have been approved by Carequality’s Steering Committee and Implementer community!
Background:
The Carequality framework enables exchange for a variety of Use Cases. Many of these Use Cases have common policies that are time consuming to update. The Carequality Framework Policies (CFP) document is the overarching Carequality Element that houses all of these common policies. Consolidating these policies into a separate Element frees them from the update cycles of the specific Use Cases, provides a user-friendly way to present them, and gives the Implementer community a nimbler mechanism to enact policy change. Going forward, Use Case Implementation Guides will be updated to largely consist of technical components specific to that Use Case and point to the CFP for general framework policies.
Updates to the Technical Trust Policy (TTP) and CFP documents reflect years of tireless work by subject matter experts, stakeholders, and Carequality Implementers. The updates can be grouped into three major policy categories: On Behalf Of (OBO), Care Coordination, and Patient Request. We recommend that readers review both documents in full, but specific attention should be paid to the following sections:
Carequality Framework Policies:
- Care Coordination [sections 3.1 and 3.4]
- On Behalf Of [Section 3.2.1.3]
- Patient Requests [Section 3.6]
Technical Trust Policy
- Carequality Patient Request Identity Verification Policy [Appendix B]
Update Summary:
Care Coordination defines a narrow subcategory of HIPAA Health Care Operations in order to give Responders the peace of mind that they know exactly what the data in question is being used for by the Initiator.
On Behalf Of enables participation by entities that cannot fulfil Reciprocity requirements in the traditional sense, but are able to participate in Carequality exchange for the Treatment purpose by pointing to organizations that are already present and acting in the Responder Role within the Carequality Directory.
Patient Request policies build on previous work to increase trust in patient-initiated requests by adding requirements for PHRs and other patient-facing apps to authenticate the identity of the patient Initiator and securely relay verified demographics to Responders for matching. The Technical Trust Policy document has been updated to support the technical aspects of these updates.
Next Steps
The CFP update and the included policies went into effect on July 31st, 2023. Implementers interested in leveraging the new exchange policies are able to do so from that date forward. While we encourage organic adoption and utilization of these policies, Carequality would like to gather volunteer organizations interested in piloting the Patient Request and/or Care Coordination purposes. Please email Admin@carequality.org, Subj: Patient Request and Care Coord. Pilot, and detail the specifics of your organization’s interest.
This month’s Carequality Monthly Informational Call will focus on an in-depth overview of these new policies. This webinar will take place on Thursday, August 31 at 1 p.m. Eastern. Those who are not already signed up for our monthly calls can register here.
Acknowledgements:
Carequality depends on input, volunteer services, and active participation from our Implementer community and other stakeholders to ensure that the Framework continues to evolve to meet our Implementer’s needs. These updates reflect countless hours (in some cases spanning years) of volunteer work that various entities have engaged in to improve healthcare as a whole. We thank you all for your hard work and continued dedication to interoperability.