The Standard

Upcoming Da Vinci Community Roundtable on February 25 at 4:00 pm ET

As the federal government signals stronger enforcement and clearer expectations for healthcare pricing transparency, the ability for patients to make informed decisions has become a cornerstone of modern care efforts. The HL7® Da Vinci Project Community Roundtable, taking place on February 25, 2026, from 4 – 5:30 p.m. ET, will bring together the pioneers who are turning these regulatory expectations into reality.

The January roundtable set the stage for 2026 by focusing on overall use case progress and adoption readiness. This February session, “Navigating Patient Cost Transparency Using HL7 FHIR: Insights from Industry Leaders,” zooms in on Patient Cost Transparency (PCT), moving from the "why" of transparency to the "how" of implementation. Attendees will hear directly from early adopters about how they are navigating the complexities of Good Faith Estimates (GFE) and building the infrastructure for a more patient-centric ecosystem.

The upcoming 90-minute session will focus on:

• The Evolving Transparency Landscape: An overview of how recent federal actions and the No Surprises Act are driving an industry effort to increase transparency and empower patients.
  
• Standardizing Good Faith Estimates: Insights into the HL7 FHIR-based approach to PCT and how it automates the exchange of cost data between providers and payers.
• Real-World Pilot Progress: First-hand accounts from Aetna/CVS Health and Kyruus Health on how they are leveraging FHIR along with their existing infrastructure and previous work to streamline implementation of PCT, as well as lessons learned.
• The Role of Innovative Apps: How standardized data enables accurate, real-time access to medical costs via consumer-facing applications prior to the delivery of care.
• Collaboration Strategies: What organizations should keep in mind when working in an ecosystem-based solution, where it’s not just one group involved but a whole mix of partners that need to collaborate for success.

How States Can Move From Fragmented Programs to Shared, Scalable Infrastructure Using FAST

The CMS Aligned Networks Pledge marks a clear inflection point in federal health IT policy. For the first time, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is not simply setting compliance requirements for individual programs—it is asking the healthcare ecosystem to operate as connected networks, capable of secure, real-time, standards-based data exchange across payers, providers, public health and patients.

For states, this shift is significant.

States are no longer just one participant among many. They are increasingly the anchor for trust, identity, consent and directory infrastructure that enable CMS-aligned networks to function at scale. Medicaid programs, state CIO offices and HIEs sit at the intersection of policy, operations and technology. The CMS Aligned Networks Pledge makes that role explicit.

This blog explains:

1. What the CMS Aligned Networks Pledge really changes for states
2. Why traditional, program-by-program approaches will not scale
3. How the  HL7® FHIR® at Scale Taskforce (FAST)  provides the infrastructure states can reuse across initiatives
4. How states can leverage existing systems and vendors without starting over

The CMS Aligned Networks Pledge: A Shift from Programs to Infrastructure

Historically, CMS initiatives have been implemented as discrete programs:

• A new reporting requirement
• A new API mandate
• A new exchange use case
• Trusted digital identity and patient matching
• Scalable security and partner onboarding
• Computable, portable consent
• Authoritative directories for endpoint discovery

The CMS Aligned Networks Pledge represents a different expectation.

CMS is signaling that future interoperability depends on shared infrastructure capabilities, including:

• Trusted digital identity and patient matching
• Scalable security and partner onboarding
• Computable, portable consent
• Authoritative directories for endpoint discovery

These are not features of a single application. They are ecosystem functions.

For states, this means success is no longer measured by whether a single system goes live, but by whether multiple programs can reuse the same trust and exchange foundations.

Those of us working across health policy, technology, and standards are reimagining a system where individuals experience better outcomes, lower costs, and greater trust in how their health information is used and shared.

At HL7® International, a global standards development organization with members and affiliates in more than 50 countries, we are meeting our challenge head-on through collaboration and innovation. The HL7® FHIR® at Scale Taskforce (FAST) Accelerator takes that mission further by tackling the hard problems of scalability: Identity, Security, Consent, and National Directory services. These components are the backbone that supports the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem and Aligned Networks Pledge.

Paired with the Da Vinci Project, which applies FHIR to payer–provider workflows like prior authorization, clinical data exchange, payer data exchange, and patient cost transparency. HL7 is aligning infrastructure with real-world use cases. Da Vinci has recognized the value of FAST standards by selecting FAST Security as part of their security recommendations in their core health record exchange (HRex) specifications, showing a convergency across the ecosystem.

Where Sequoia’s RCE Role Elevates the Work: TEFCA as the National Trust Layer

FAST isn’t building infrastructure in a vacuum. Its work aligns with the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), led by The Sequoia Project as the Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) for ASTP/ONC. TEFCA is a national framework for the secure and trusted exchange of clinical data across networks.

The HL7® Da Vinci Project is extending the deadline to nominate outstanding contributors for its 2025 Community Champions recognition program. Community members now have until Friday, February 6, 2026, to submit nominations, giving an extra week to spotlight colleagues and collaborators who are making a real impact on healthcare interoperability.

The Community Champions program honors individuals from across the Da Vinci Project's diverse, multi-stakeholder ecosystem, including health plans, provider organizations, accountable care organizations (ACOs), and health IT vendors. As an HL7® FHIR® Accelerator, the Da Vinci Project brings together public and private sector leaders to advance standards that support automated workflows, real-time data exchange, reduced administrative burden and improved care coordination.

Since launching in 2020, the Community Champions program has recognized individuals who embody a spirit of “industry above self.” Champions are known for their collaboration, leadership, and commitment to advancing real-world adoption of HL7 FHIR standards in support of value-based care and a more connected healthcare system.

Community Roundtable Featuring Clinical Advisory Council Insights on FHIR Adoption on June 25 at 4 pm

 Join the Vulcan Interoperability Bridge Webinar | Thursday, June 12 at 1:00 PM ET 

The story of clinical research has always been one of astounding breakthroughs… and barriers. It’s the story of research, regulators and technologists working together, and more recently, the story of equitable access and activated patients empowered to share their experiences. Clinical research is evolving — and it’s happening through the collective efforts of a passionate, deeply engaged community.

On June 12, we invite you to be part of that evolution.

The Vulcan Interoperability Bridge Webinar, hosted by the Vulcan FHIR® Accelerator in collaboration with the FDA, will bring together clinical research sponsors, EHR providers, life science leaders, technology innovators, academic medical centers and more — all working toward a future where HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)-based interoperability enables smarter, faster and more connected clinical research.

Behind this movement is a simple truth: we can’t innovate in isolation. This is precisely where Vulcan makes a difference by breaking down barriers. Every delay in data sharing, every barrier caused by disconnected systems, slows the path from discovery to patient benefit.

Community Roundtable Featuring Payer Data Exchange Implementation Guide on May 28 at 4 pm

If you're looking for a real-world take on how the healthcare industry is putting the HL7 Da Vinci Project’s Payer Data Exchange (PDex) Implementation Guide into action, you won’t want to miss this event! The 90-minute virtual community roundtable will feature how organizations are using FHIR-based APIs to improve transparency and value-based care.

How Organizations Are Using PDex in Production Today

After a brief update on the PDex Implementation Guide from Da Vinci’s technical director, attendees will hear about implementation considerations and first-hand implementer accounts from those actively applying PDex to solve real-world data exchange challenges:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield Association + InterSystems will discuss the immense potential of payer-to-payer APIs to increase patient transparency and improve value-based care in light of the high levels of churn of the impacted population, resulting in care gaps and a need to provide patients with longitudinal records of care. Presenters will highlight the relevant Implementation Guides and the workflow issues inherent in the process that are being worked on. 
  
  
• Availity, Healow Insights, and Humana will explore their experience with payer-to-payer data sharing using PDex—including workflow impacts, scaling considerations, and member-centered outcomes. Availity and Humana will share its observations and lessons learned along their payer-to-payer implementation journey through internal development, coordinating with their cohort of payers, and participating in Connectathons. Then Healow will highlight its experiences from two years in PDex production. 

Are you a member of a technical team that’s beginning its journey toward implementing HL7's Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR^®) application program interfaces (APIs)? Then don’t miss an upcoming three-day online educational event offering two technical tracks tailored to your needs. 

Two days of interactive content delivery and demonstrations will be followed by a Connectathon that will provide implementers and developers with the opportunity to test FHIR-based solutions and exchange data with other FHIR interfaces.  

Organizations that want to fast-track implementing HL7 FHIR APIs to automate workflow, maximize efficiency and meet federal requirements of the CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule (CMS-0057-F) should encourage their technical teams attend this online event. 

“We designed two tracks for technical team members at provider and payer organizations, as well as technology vendors, who are looking for a crash course on making the most of FHIR,” says Viet Nguyen, M.D., Technical Director of the HL7 Da Vinci Project. (Da Vinci has developed implementation guides for putting FHIR to use in supporting value-based medicine.) 

Clinical Trial Matching...Room for Improvement 

Clinical trials are essential to the advancement of patient care. The outcomes of a trial directly enable the future development of new treatment options for patients. Participants also benefit during the trial – they are provided access to potential treatments that may not be otherwise available to them – sometimes improving their overall prognosis.

Trial sponsors (the party responsible for the clinical trial) make significant investments, including procurement of products and services supporting the clinical trial workflow. According to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD), the mean direct cost to conduct a clinical trial per day is approximately $40,000 for Phase II and Phase III trials, and delays to launching a product can cost $800,000 per day.

With a very high percentage of trials delayed due to enrollment, there is much work to do to ensure clinical trials are sustainable and new therapies reach patients faster. Efficiencies gained in clinical trial matching benefit patients and their caregivers, sponsors and service providers.

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For a patient to be matched with the right trial, that patient’s medical history is compared with multiple trials’ criteria.   In concept, this is a simple process, but more information is often needed than is available in the patient’s record (in Part 1 we tell the story of Dr. Smith’s inability to easily obtain her patient’s medication history from his previous health care provider.) If, after a first evaluation, a patient isn’t disqualified, they must often undergo additional screening by their care team or more involved procedures required by the protocol sponsor to fully determine eligibility.

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Introduction

  Questions to Address:

• How can we build interoperability into this process with HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) – automating trial matching by fitting patient data and clinical trial criteria together like puzzle pieces?  

• Two separate-but-related teams within one of the world’s leading health data standards organizations are independently addressing aspects of this complicated puzzle.  Through more standardized patient medical records and machine-readable, digital clinical trial protocols, we can make progress toward a future state where trial matching is more accurate and seamless. You can be part of the journey!