ONC Increases Funding for TEFCA RCE in New Contract Year

VIENNA, Va., Aug. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Sequoia Project, the leading non-profit focused on advancing healthcare interoperability, today announced it will continue its role as the Recognized Coordinating Entity^® (RCE^®) to support the implementation of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement™ (TEFCA^®). The non-profit was awarded the next option year with a more than 15% increase in funding under its existing contract to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).

“The Sequoia Project’s partnership with ONC has enabled TEFCA’s success to date,” said Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project and RCE lead. “Looking ahead, we are focusing on network integrity, advancing new use cases, and supporting continued growth.”

More than 1.5 billion documents have been shared through TEFCA exchange since the go-live in December 2023. More than 100,000 sites nationwide are sharing patient data under explicit, approved exchange purposes, including treatment, government benefits determination, public health, healthcare operations, payment, and individual access services (IAS). The IAS exchange purpose empowers consumers to direct the sharing of health data with the digital health platforms of their choice, including popular health apps. An interactive map for searching participants is available on the RCE website.

In the most recent contract year, the RCE designated two additional Qualified Health Information Networks® (QHINs™), published 13 new policies, engaged more than 100 stakeholders and experts across more than 100 meetings, and facilitated the governing bodies. To increase transparency and stakeholder engagement, the RCE published the new “TEFCA Topics in Change Management” webpage, where the public can preview draft policies under consideration by the governing bodies and provide concurrent feedback.

“The Sequoia Project’s RCE team is excited to continue supporting TEFCA’s growth and maturity as the leading federally endorsed framework for trusted exchange,” said Yeager. “This past year was marked by tremendous growth, and today, TEFCA has 11 QHINs that represent more than 23,000 organizations nationwide, with more organizations in the on-boarding process.”

The RCE hosts a public informational call on the third Tuesday of each month to share information about the network’s activities and provide opportunities for stakeholder input as TEFCA is developed and implemented. The next call is tomorrow, Tuesday, Aug. 18, at noon ET.

About The Sequoia Project

The Sequoia Project is a non-profit, 501c3, public-private collaborative chartered to advance implementation of secure, interoperable nationwide health information exchange. The Sequoia Project focuses on solving real-world interoperability challenges and brings together public and private stakeholders in forums, such as the Interoperability Matters cooperative, to overcome barriers. The Interoperability Matters cooperative brings together experts from across the private sector and government in workgroups to identify, prioritize, and solve the most pressing challenges to health information exchange. The Sequoia Project is the Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). For more information about The Sequoia Project and its initiatives, visit www.sequoiaproject.org.