Federal agencies quietly joined health data superhighway governing council
Federal agencies have quietly joined the governing council of TEFCA, a national health data exchange network that connects thousands of hospitals, clinics, and other medical providers. The move gives federal agencies a formal role in a system designed to move health records digitally across the country.
Why this matters: This is how government access to your medical records expands without anyone announcing it. TEFCA was built to make it easier for your doctors to share your records with each other. Federal agencies joining its governing council is a different thing entirely. It means the people who can subpoena, audit, and investigate now have a structural seat at the table of a system touching millions of patient records. The word 'quietly' in the headline is doing a lot of work here. Health data is among the most sensitive information about a person. Who gets access, under what rules, and with what oversight matters enormously.
Who should care: Healthcare professionals · Privacy officers · Compliance
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