BOSTON — athenahealth has become the first healthcare IT provider to implement the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) at scale, migrating all eligible providers on its athenaOne network to the national interoperability framework. The move marks a major milestone in athenahealth’s ongoing mission to modernize healthcare data exchange and ensure seamless, secure access to patient records across the United States.
The announcement cements athenahealth’s role as a leader in advancing interoperability and reflects over a decade of investment in connecting fragmented health systems. By aligning its infrastructure with TEFCA, the company now supports real-time access to comprehensive medical records, including clinical notes, scanned images, and unstructured data, in formats consistent with national standards.
“This achievement marks a significant step toward a unified, nationwide network that enables seamless, secure, and automatic access to complete medical records,” said Sam Lambson, Vice President of Data and Ecosystem Platform at athenahealth. “But this is just the beginning. We’re building a future where health information follows the patient, and actionable insights—not disconnected data—drive better care.”
Central to athenahealth’s strategy is its collaboration with other health data organizations, including its long-standing partnership with the CommonWell Health Alliance. This cooperative approach extends beyond provider-facing services, with new tools that empower patients through Individual Access Services (IAS). Patients can now retrieve their clinical data instantly through no-login, digital identity-based access—designed to match the seamless experience consumers expect in other areas of their lives.
The company’s latest innovation, ChartSync, builds on the TEFCA integration by helping providers better interact with external data within the athenaOne platform. By surfacing relevant clinical information at the point of care, ChartSync aims to reduce administrative burden and eliminate information gaps, making it easier for clinicians to make informed decisions.
“Our partnership with athenahealth is critical to the success of advancing interoperability efforts across the industry,” said Paul Wilder, Executive Director of CommonWell Health Alliance. “athenahealth’s TEFCA migration highlights their commitment to interoperability, and their empowering approach drives industry progress, connecting systems and equipping providers and patients with actionable insights that improve care and outcomes.”
With this milestone, athenahealth not only reinforces its leadership in interoperability but also signals a broader shift toward a healthcare ecosystem where data is not just exchanged—but truly usable—by both patients and providers.
