DirectTrust and GLEIF to develop new Qualification Agent model to support vLEI adoption in U.S. healthcare

WASHINGTON, D.C. AND BASEL, SWITZERLAND / ACCESS Newswire / October 19, 2026 / DirectTrust and the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) today announced that they are working together to develop a new Qualification Agent model within the verifiable Legal Entity Identifier (vLEI) Ecosystem Governance Framework. The model is intended to enable organizations with established certification or accreditation capabilities to qualify vLEI Issuers (QVIs), supporting broader adoption of verifiable organizational identity across sectors. The collaboration responds to strong market demand in the U.S. healthcare sector for trusted, scalable approaches to verifiable organizational identity.

Under this new partnership, DirectTrust plans to further extend GLEIF’s globally recognized approach to verifiable organizational identity into U.S. healthcare. Providers, payers, pharmacies, and technology vendors exchange sensitive patient information every day with other healthcare organizations and partners they need to trust. As exchanges expand across APIs, automated systems, and AI-enabled applications, organizations need a reliable way to verify the legal entity behind each interaction and the authority of those acting on its behalf.

“Healthcare has spent two decades building trusted exchange networks, but organizational identity remains fragmented across disparate directories and individual agreements,” said Scott Stuewe, President and CEO of DirectTrust. “Anchoring organizational identity to the Global LEI System gives us a path toward making that identity portable and verifiable, along with the authority of the people and systems acting on an organization’s behalf.”

The Legal Entity Identifier, an ISO 17442 standard, is a unique 20-character code that identifies a legal entity and links to reference data about its ownership and structure. The vLEI extends that identity into digital transactions through cryptographically verifiable credentials. Governed by GLEIF’s vLEI Ecosystem Governance Framework and issued by vLEI Issuers, vLEI credentials allow the identity, authority, and organizational roles of those acting on behalf of a legal entity to be verified digitally.

Under the new model being developed, GLEIF would qualify Qualification Agents, which would in turn qualify QVIs within their networks. GLEIF would oversee the operations of Qualification Agents, while each Qualification Agent would be responsible for monitoring the QVIs it qualifies. The model is intended to complement GLEIF’s existing approach to QVI qualification by enabling organizations with established certification or accreditation capabilities to support the expansion of the vLEI ecosystem.

GLEIF is developing the governance, qualification and oversight requirements needed to support the Qualification Agent model. The relevant vLEI Ecosystem Governance Framework documentation also would need to be updated.

“The Qualification Agent model is intended to help the vLEI ecosystem scale into sectors where established certification and accreditation networks already exist,” said Karla McKenna, Managing Director, GLEIF Americas. “DirectTrust’s deep experience in accreditation, certification and identity assurance in U.S. healthcare makes it a strong organization for GLEIF to work with as we develop the model and explore how it can support broader adoption of verifiable organizational identity.”

Once appointed as a Qualification Agent, DirectTrust would be able to qualify organizations within its network as QVIs under the governance requirements established by GLEIF. This would provide an additional pathway for organizations to become QVIs and support the adoption of vLEIs across the U.S. healthcare ecosystem. Working with healthcare stakeholders, DirectTrust will apply GLEIF’s governance and technical capabilities to:

  • Establish verifiable organizational identity for healthcare organizations that can be reliably asserted in electronic transactions, giving exchange partners confidence in the organization behind an interaction.
  • Link individuals to accountable organizations, associating transactions initiated by clinicians, staff, applications, and automated systems with a legitimate, verified organization.
  • Support delegated authority through verifiable credentials that communicate defined roles, permissions, and healthcare purposes of use.
  • Put those credentials to work across healthcare transactions, including secure messaging, APIs, and automated systems.

This announcement builds on previous digital identity work between DirectTrust and the CARIN Alliance, including efforts to advance interoperable digital identity credentials and address organizational identity in healthcare.

“Agentic AI makes this work even more important,” said Ryan Howells, Principal at Leavitt Partners and Program Manager of the CARIN Alliance. “As AI agents increasingly act on behalf of healthcare organizations, we need a reliable way to establish who delegated that authority and which organization stands behind the agent, that will be critical infrastructure for healthcare.”

DirectTrust will share additional details in the coming months on opportunities for U.S. healthcare organizations to participate in and support the initiative. Organizations interested in participating may contact Admin@DirectTrust.org.

About the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation
Established by the Financial Stability Board in June 2014, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) is a not-for-profit organization created to support the implementation and use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) and its digital counterpart the verifiable LEI (vLEI). GLEIF is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.

GLEIF’s mission is to manage a network of global partners to provide trusted services and open, reliable data for unique legal entity identification worldwide. GLEIF makes available the technical infrastructure to provide, via an open data license, online access to the full global LEI database free of charge to users. GLEIF is overseen by the Regulatory Oversight Committee, which is made up of representatives of public authorities from across the globe.

Diversity and inclusion underpin GLEIF’s values. This is reflected in its workforce of approximately 60 staff from over 20 nations, its operational excellence, and its commitment to open, global participation in the Global LEI System.

For more information, visit the GLEIF website at https://www.gleif.org/en.

About DirectTrust
DirectTrust® is a non-profit, vendor-neutral alliance dedicated to establishing trust in a connected world. The organization serves as a forum for a consensus-driven community focused on health communication and cybersecurity, an ANSI standards development organization, an accreditation and certification body governed by EHNAC, and a developer of technical trust frameworks and supportive services for secure information exchange like Direct Secure Messaging and identity-verified credentials.

The goal of DirectTrust is to develop, promote, and, as necessary, help enforce the rules and best practices necessary to maintain privacy, security, and trust for stakeholders across and beyond healthcare. In addition, DirectTrust is committed to fostering widespread public confidence in the interoperable exchange of health information while promoting quality service, innovation, cooperation, and open competition in healthcare. To learn more, visit: DirectTrust.org.

Media Contacts

DirectTrust:
Dave Anderson
dave@andersoni.com
+1 770 401 1044

GLEIF:
James Kemp
james@iseepr.co.uk
+44 (0) 113 350 1922

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SOURCE: DirectTrust

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