DURHAM, NC, UNITED STATES, November 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The U.S. Health and Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have launched a joint initiative to expand collaborative electronic prior authorization (ePA) testing nationwide, with a focus on private industry payer API testing. ONC has engaged the MITRE-led Health Federally Funded Research and Development Center (Health FFRDC) and Drummond to partner together to facilitate private industry testing events focused on payer API interoperability and real-world testing scenarios.
Drummond announces today that it will support MITRE’s Health FFRDC in this nationwide effort through the use of Drummond’s FHIRplace testing program.
Real-world interoperability depends on whether FHIR developers, providers, payers, and intermediaries can test their systems together at scale. FHIRplace, a Drummond-managed virtual environment, makes that testing possible. Drummond will work with ONC and MITRE to select participants, support participant matching, and test coordination across the full provider-payer testing matrix. Participants will continuously test provider-facing and payer-facing systems with each other during multi-week sprints, testing across a variety of test cases and clinical scenarios, and with multiple testing partners. FHIRplace identifies interoperability issues between participants and conducts retesting until each participant completes successfully.
With extensive knowledge of the ONC Health IT Certification Program including development of the Inferno Framework, MITRE will provide overall project leadership bringing deep experience in developing Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) standards and open-source testing suites.
“We are pleased to work with the Drummond Group to advance testing capabilities that support ONC and CMS ePA priorities,” says Stephen L. Ondra, MD, Vice President, MITRE Center for Transforming Health and Director of the Health FFRDC. “Streamlining prior authorization through standardized electronic workflows can reduce administrative burden and improve access to care. MITRE’s objective, neutral perspective, and deep technical and policy expertise positions us to help advance interoperable solutions that streamline prior authorization and improve the experience for patients, providers, and payers.”
This ePA testing initiative, which is available now and runs through to September 2027, will test electronic prior authorization and payer data exchange using the HL7 Da Vinci Coverage Requirements Discovery (CRD), Documentation Templates and Rules (DTR), and Prior Authorization Support (PAS) implementation guides.
Results from Drummond’s second and third quarters of 2026 testing activities show why this collaborative initiative matters. More than 12 member organizations ran 2,653 test executions, and that continuous testing uncovered 669 interoperability issues. In the third quarter alone, testing surfaced 311 issues, and 69% have been resolved or remediated. Each of those issues is a mismatch that could otherwise appear in live prior authorization workflows.
“We are excited to work on this meaningful project with MITRE, ONC and CMS,” said Lisa Palmer, Vice President of Research, Innovation & Development at Drummond. “Getting prior authorization data to flow is difficult but necessary to securely advance health data interoperability, and FHIRplace gives payers, providers and intermediaries a shared place to identify issues and prove their systems are interoperable.”
Expanding this testing nationwide will take participation from many organizations across the prior authorization ecosystem. FHIRplace is looking for payers, providers, care delivery organizations, health IT developers, intermediaries, and other private industry partners with a working or in-development implementation of the HL7 Da Vinci CRD, DTR, or PAS implementation guides. Provider-facing, payer-facing, and intermediary roles are all welcome. Organizations interested in joining can learn more here.
About Drummond Group, LLC
Drummond has provided testing and certification services since 1999. An ONC Authorized Testing Lab and Authorized Certification Body since 2010, Drummond has issued more than 3,500 ONC Health IT certifications, and more health IT developers choose Drummond than all other ONC-authorized certification bodies combined. Drummond also holds more than 310 active DEA EPCS certifications and tests FHIR interoperability, serving health IT developers, payers, and providers. Drummond’s services span compliance testing, certification, validation, security assessment, and B2B interoperability across regulated industries. Learn more at drummondgroup.com.
About MITRE
MITRE’s mission-driven teams are dedicated to driving solutions to our nation’s most pressing challenges. As a not-for-profit research and development organization, MITRE’s staff leverage our unique multi-sponsor vantage point, systems expertise, and innovative solutions to ensure the health, prosperity, and security of our nation. Learn more at mitre.org.
Lucy Railton
Drummond Group, LLC
+1 877-437-8666
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