A proposed plan on how healthcare organizations can better exchange data is expected to be released before the end of the month, according to a top federal health official.

The plan, known as the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, was originally outlined in the 21st Century Cures Act. The framework will be “an integral component of the nationwide network-to-network exchange of health data and a critical part of ONC’s charge to support nationwide interoperability,” according to Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Speaking at ONC’s annual meeting on Friday, Genevieve Morris, principal deputy national coordinator for Health IT, said the ONC has already gathered some stakeholder comments on the creation of the framework, including that the office should “focus requirements on critical areas of inconsistency across existing network agreements” while “avoiding disrupting or duplicating existing efforts that are successfully enabling data exchange,” HealthData Management reported.

A third and final stakeholder meeting on the framework was held during the annual meeting. ONC plans to release a proposed rule on the framework sometime in December, Morris said.