We all know what it’s like to get forms completed with all the right information (and to get it done quickly!), and patients seeking determinations on their eligibility for Social Security Disability Insurance know this all too well. Patients and providers often spend significant time and resources retrieving, reviewing, copying, and transmitting relevant medical records. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Social Security Administration (SSA) are taking on the challenge to improve this process through the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement™ (TEFCA™).

It wasn’t always so, but today we have technology available to exchange health information anywhere there’s an internet connection. What’s slowing us from doing so at nationwide scale is trust. The frictions are human and institutional. They cannot be addressed exclusively with technology. 

Due to the lapse in appropriations occurring October 1, 2025, through November 12, 2025, ASTP/ONC issued two enforcement discretion notices: Certification Criteria Compliance Dates Enforcement Discretion Notice and Attestations Condition and Maintenance of Certification Requirements Enforcement Discretion Notice.

The LEAP in Health IT project recently announced two new awards. The 2025 LEAP in Health IT projects will support patients experiencing pregnancy-induced hypertension, providing them with real-time responses that report elevated blood pressure; and will simplify identity proofing, enhance patient matching, and reduce implementation complexity to advance the adoption of IAS under TEFCA. 

Individuals seeking government benefits such as Social Security Disability Insurance spend a lot of time waiting. In particular, the Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates it takes over 200 days for an initial disability claim to be processed. Part of that time delay includes SSA’s efforts to find out where relevant medical records may be, request them from your health care provider(s), and the time it takes your providers to respond. Ultimately, it costs SSA (and thus taxpayers) over 500 million dollars a year to collect and create medical evidence for applicants.