About TRA Version TRA 2024 Revision 3.0

The CMS Technical Reference Architecture (TRA) provides CMS's authoritative technical architecture approach and technical reference standards to assure the secure and high-quality delivery of healthcare services to beneficiaries, providers, and business partners.

The CMS TRA represents the Agency's policy guidance to all Agency business partners wishing to develop, transition, and maintain information systems that interact with the CMS Processing Environments. The CMS TRA is approved and authorized by the CMS Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

TRA Standards

By adhering to these standards, CMS and project teams:

  • Ensure an effective, standardized operating environment
  • Assure sound and consistent security practices
  • Promote compliance with CMS decisions in future CMS task orders and acquisitions
  • Enable interoperability and encourages reuse/shared infrastructure
  • Provide a consistent set of architectural best practices for use throughout CMS

TRA Compliance

Several Major Releases to the TRA are published annually. New systems are expected to be compliant with the current version of the TRA. For existing systems, compliance with new TRA updates is required within 24-months of publication.

  • The TRA contains specific guidance constructs: Business Rules, Recommended Practices, and Industry Best Practices.
  • Business Rules are requirements that systems are expected to be in compliance with. They are numbered within the TRA and always begin with the “BR” tag.
  • Recommended Practices are items which are not required, but which are strongly recommended. Business owners should be prepared to explain exceptions to these practices. These are also numbered and always begin with the "RP" tag.
  • Industry Best Practices are items which tend to be theory or philosophy-driven, and may relevant only to some types of applications. These are not required nor necessarily recommended, but may be helpful depending on the application environment.

TRA Access

The current and complete version of the TRA is posted on the CMS TRA website. This website is only accessible from the internal CMS network and requires EUA authentication.

External contractors needing access to the TRA can access the public version of the TRA here.

The public version has most of the TRA content, but sensitive information has been redacted. Contractors needing access to the restricted material can request it via their contracting officer's representative (COR).