Netsmart Reinforces Interoperability Leadership by Joining CMS Health Technology Ecosystem Pledge
Netsmart, a leading provider of healthcare technology solutions and services for community-based care organizations, today announced its formal commitment to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Health Technology Ecosystem initiative as a CMS Aligned Network. Through this commitment, Netsmart will collaborate with CMS and industry stakeholders to adopt and support implementation of the CMS Interoperability Framework, advancing secure, standards-based access to health information while ensuring compliance with applicable regulatory and patient privacy requirements.
The CMS Health Technology Ecosystem initiative represents a national effort to modernize and strengthen health data exchange across the U.S. healthcare system. By bringing together healthcare technology vendors, provider networks, and other ecosystem participants, the initiative aims to reduce fragmentation, improve information accessibility, and enable more coordinated, patient-centered care. Netsmart’s participation reflects the company’s longstanding leadership in interoperability and its continued advocacy for the unique needs of community-based care settings—including behavioral health, human services, and post-acute care—as national digital health frameworks continue to evolve.
Advancing National Interoperability Goals
As a CMS Aligned Network participant, Netsmart will work collaboratively to support CMS priorities related to interoperability, data liquidity, and equitable access to health information. The CMS Interoperability Framework outlines a shared vision for enabling seamless, secure data exchange across care settings, payers, government agencies, and patients themselves. Netsmart’s pledge aligns with these goals by emphasizing standards-based interoperability, responsible data stewardship, and a patient-first approach to information sharing.
The CMS Health Technology Ecosystem initiative underscores the federal government’s commitment to fostering a more connected healthcare environment—one that empowers clinicians with timely access to comprehensive patient data and supports better decision-making at the point of care. Netsmart’s involvement reinforces the importance of ensuring that community-based providers are fully represented in these national efforts, particularly as value-based care models and whole-person care strategies continue to expand.
A Track Record of Interoperability Leadership
Netsmart brings more than a decade of experience and leadership in healthcare interoperability to the CMS Health Technology Ecosystem initiative. The company has consistently played an active role in shaping national data exchange frameworks and advancing solutions that support secure, scalable, and standards-based interoperability across the continuum of care.
“True advancement in interoperability requires both vision and execution from stakeholders across healthcare organizations, government, payers, and the broader ecosystem,” said AJ Peterson, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Interoperability at Netsmart. “This pledge allows Netsmart to extend our interoperability leadership within a national framework. By aligning with CMS, we aim to further connect the healthcare ecosystem and help ensure timely access to meaningful health information that supports better outcomes for individuals and communities.”
Peterson’s leadership in interoperability extends beyond Netsmart. He was recently elected to the Board of Directors of The Sequoia Project, the nationally recognized coordinating entity for the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). His election reflects not only his personal contributions to interoperability throughout his career, but also Netsmart’s broader commitment to advancing the development, governance, and oversight of large-scale data exchange frameworks.
Supporting TEFCA and Nationwide Data Exchange
Netsmart holds a unique position within the interoperability landscape as the first electronic health record (EHR) provider built primarily for human services and post-acute care organizations to become a Designated Quality Health Information Network® (QHIN™) under TEFCA. As a Designated QHIN, Netsmart serves as a trusted, nationwide gateway for secure health information exchange, enabling the open sharing of longitudinal patient data across providers, health systems, payers, and government entities.
Through its QHIN designation, Netsmart supports the exchange of health information in alignment with TEFCA’s core principles, including standardized connectivity, robust privacy protections, and equitable participation across care settings. This capability is particularly critical for community-based providers, who have historically faced barriers to full participation in nationwide data exchange initiatives.
By facilitating access to comprehensive, longitudinal health records, Netsmart’s interoperability solutions help providers deliver more coordinated, whole-person care—supporting improved care transitions, reduced duplication of services, and enhanced population health management. These capabilities align closely with CMS priorities around value-based care, health equity, and improved care coordination.
Enabling Standards-Based Referrals and Care Transitions
In addition to its QHIN designation, Netsmart is currently one of only two EHR providers capable of facilitating 360X closed-loop referrals, a key CMS-endorsed standard designed to improve care transitions and coordination. The 360X standard enables automated, standards-based referral workflows that support real-time status updates and clinical information exchange between primary care providers and community-based care organizations.
Closed-loop referrals play a critical role in reducing gaps in care, ensuring accountability across referral partners, and improving patient outcomes—particularly for individuals with complex medical, behavioral, or social needs. By supporting 360X functionality, Netsmart helps bridge communication gaps between healthcare settings and ensures that community-based providers are fully integrated into broader care coordination efforts.
Through its participation in the CMS Health Technology Ecosystem initiative, Netsmart will continue to extend these capabilities as part of a broader federal effort to modernize health information exchange infrastructure and promote interoperability at scale.
Collaboration Across the Healthcare Ecosystem
Netsmart has been actively engaged in workgroups supporting the CMS Aligned Network initiative, contributing its expertise to collaborative discussions focused on interoperability, standards adoption, and implementation best practices. The company’s involvement reflects a commitment to partnership and shared accountability across the healthcare ecosystem.
As an advocate for human services and post-acute care providers—and the individuals they serve—Netsmart emphasizes the importance of inclusive interoperability frameworks that recognize the diverse needs of community-based care settings. These providers play a vital role in addressing behavioral health, social determinants of health, and long-term care needs, making their inclusion in national data exchange initiatives essential to achieving whole-person care.
Netsmart looks forward to continued collaboration with CMS, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and industry organizations to support the CMS Health Technology Ecosystem initiative. The company commends HHS for its leadership in championing secure, standards-based interoperability that aims to improve outcomes, enhance care coordination, and deliver a more seamless, efficient experience for both patients and care teams.
About Netsmart
Netsmart is an industry-leading healthcare technology organization empowering providers to deliver value-based care to the individuals and communities they serve. The Netsmart CareFabric® platform serves as a unified, connected framework of solutions and services for human services, post-acute, payer and public sector communities. Together with our clients and Marketplace vendors, we develop and deliver innovative technology, including electronic health records (EHRs), interoperability, analytics, augmented intelligence (AI), population health management and telehealth solutions and services that assist organizations in transforming the care they deliver. The result has helped make a positive impact on the lives of more than 165 million individuals.
