At Connecting for Better Health’s May 22 meeting, we welcomed Assemblymember Carrillo’s office to present on AB 894 (Carrillo), and Lauren Choi, a consultant with the Center for Data Insights and Innovation (CDII), to provide an overview of the new CDII primer “Leveraging TEFCA for California’s Data Exchange Framework.” C4BH also provided updates on recent federal and California policy developments related to data exchange. 

AB 894: Patient Directories and Privacy in Acute Care Hospitals

AB 894 is a current California bill designed to enhance patient privacy protections in California hospitals, requiring hospitals to provide a patient with documentation allowing them to opt-out of the hospital’s patient directory via a written form or verbal notification. A hospital directory details a patient’s name, room number, general condition, and other pertinent information that can be accessed by anyone who asks for the patient by name (e.g. a family member wanting to know the status or location of their hospitalized family member). Assemblymember Carrillo’s office detailed the concerns that led to the introduction of this bill, including: 

• In January 2025, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded a policy that advised the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to generally refrain from sensitive areas which included hospitals, allowing ICE to potentially conduct activities; 
• Patients may enter hospitals in vulnerable times (e.g. after sexual assault, human trafficking);
• The overload of patient paperwork upon intake makes the opt-out option buried in documentation. 

AB 894’s goal is to increase awareness and usage of existing privacy rights without overwhelming hospital processes. AB 894 recently passed Assembly Appropriations and is now heading to the Senate. If you would like to support the bill, access the support letter here. 

Leveraging TEFCA under the Data Exchange Framework

CDII recently published a primer to help stakeholders better understand how TEFCA aligns with California’s DxF. Authorized under the 21st Century Cures Act, TEFCA creates a voluntary, contract-based national network for health information exchange through Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINs), while California’s DxF establishes mandatory participation for certain health and social services entities under AB 133. Although both aim to advance interoperability, they differ in scope, data types, exchange purposes, and privacy regulations. TEFCA primarily supports health care treatment, payment, and operations under HIPAA, while the DxF incorporates California’s more expansive privacy laws and includes social services data to support whole-person care. As federal and state standards continue to evolve, C4BH recognizes the importance to leverage TEFCA’s provisions as the DxF continues to expand data sharing across California, providing national connectivity to local, diverse California communities.

Federal & California Policy Updates

At both the state and national level, there have been many notable updates related to data sharing. CMS and ASTP/ONC released a Request for Information (RFI) on the Health Technology Ecosystem, which C4BH will be responding to with a letter. The RFI is designed to help inform federal policy to strengthen technology infrastructure and improve data exchange to aid better informed health decisions. C4BH coalition members weighed in on priority issue areas, such as individual access to patient data and information blocking regulations, to detail in our response letter. Additionally, C4BH provided updates on SB 660 (Menjivar), which recently passed the Senate Appropriations committee, as well as Gavin Newsom’s 2025-26 May Revise Budget. Lastly, Rim Cothren from CDII provided an update on the DxF Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) as the workgroup wrapped up their first meeting series focused on Social Services Architecture. Findings from the TAC included a need for actionable and clear policy guidance for social data exchange, emphasizing a gap in consistent state and federal guidance necessary to successfully integrate social services into data exchange. The group advocates for greater use case design for social health exchange to better support real-life examples of data exchange. The next focus of the TAC is Consent Management and you can find meeting details here.