Federal health IT officials are accelerating efforts to improve nationwide data sharing and prepare healthcare systems for broader artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on May 26.
Speaking at the AFCEA Bethesda Health IT Summit, Dr. Thomas Keane, the national coordinator for health IT at HHS, said the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is focused on ensuring healthcare technology better supports patients and clinicians.
For instance, Keane described the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) as a foundational effort to eliminate longstanding healthcare data silos.
“As of this year, close to a billion health records have been exchanged through TEFCA across more than 80,000 organizations, up from only 10 million in early 2025,” Keane said. “This is not theory; it is transformation at a national scale.”
“What does that mean in practical terms? It means that if you need urgent care while traveling, your clinician can access your medical history, medications, and allergies from your primary care provider back home,” Keane said.
Increased data sharing means that AI tools “have better, more complete data to work with,” he added.
Beyond TEFCA, Keane highlighted new requirements aimed at reducing healthcare costs and administrative burdens. By the end of 2027, certified electronic health record systems will be required to provide patient-specific prescription pricing information and lower-cost therapeutic alternatives during the prescribing process, he said.
Keane said those tools could help reduce prescription abandonment and improve medication adherence by allowing providers and patients to discuss costs before prescriptions reach the pharmacy counter.
He also pointed to AI as an increasingly important part of healthcare modernization efforts, while stressing that trustworthy data infrastructure remains essential for safe and effective deployment.
“AI cannot replace the compassion and expertise that define our health system,” Keane said. “But it can amplify both if we get the data, governance, and insights right.”