Transparency and control.
Your care, visible to you.
Today the patient is the only party in the transaction who can’t see it — decisions made about them, without them, on a timeline they can’t watch: where an authorization stands, why a claim was denied, which coverage a bill went to. The network is designed so the requests and answers about your care can be shown to you through applications you authorize — submitted, received, decided, like tracking a package — and you decide which authorized apps and services may access the information you control. Your records stay where they live today, with the doctors and insurers who hold them; the network moves questions and answers in sealed envelopes it cannot decrypt — it processes only the metadata required to authorize, route, and prove the exchange — and keeps no central copy of your medical records.
An illustration — what this will mean
Your doctor requests an MRI on Monday at 9:12. You see it — received by your plan at 9:13, more information requested Tuesday, approved Wednesday, with the reason and the next step. No phone tree. No letter three weeks later.
What’s available now: the network is in synthetic-data testing — no live patient data is on the sandbox. Current demonstrations use synthetic patients.
The network is being built so the activity about your care — where your prior authorization is, who asked for what, and why — can be shown to you through authorized patient-facing applications as those surfaces become available — whether provided by SHN or another authorized organization. The exact launch surfaces and timing will be published before production activation. Most interoperability projects are invisible to the public; a parent watching their child’s prior authorization move — as those surfaces are enabled — is not.
Want to know when it reaches you?
Leave your email and we’ll tell you when the network reaches your plan or your state — and when you can see your care.
Build the patient experience with us
Smart Health Network is not building another closed patient portal. The network is being designed so patients can see — and eventually act on — the administrative activity about their care through applications they choose: health-plan apps, provider portals, state and HIE services, navigation tools, and independent consumer applications.
We’re beginning work with consumer-app developers, patient advocates, payers, providers, and states on a common patient activity model: clear prior-authorization status, trusted notifications, delegated caregiver access, patient-controlled authorization, and a consistent audit trail across applications.
The first release focuses on a question patients cannot answer today: What is happening with my care, and who acts next?
Organizations interested in shaping the patient API, authorization model, reference experience, and app trust framework can join the Consumer App Design Group.
Current status: architecture and design collaboration; synthetic-data testing only. Production scopes, launch surfaces, and certification requirements will be published before activation.
Your questions, answered
How do I sign up?
There’s nothing to buy and nothing to install. The network works through your health plan, your providers, and the applications you choose: the activity about your care becomes available as your health plan, your provider, and a participating application enable the capability — under the network’s consent and privacy rules. Your plan and your providers do the connecting; you get the visibility.
When can I get it?
The first production market is targeted for January 1, 2027, starting in Delaware — insurance approvals and coverage checks first, with claims on the target calendar. More states join as their markets launch. As your health plan, your providers, and a participating application enable the capability, you’ll begin seeing the network-routed activity about your care.
What will I be able to see?
Where an authorization stands and what was decided. What your coverage actually answered when your doctor’s office checked it. Your claims as they move. And who has asked about you — every routed request generates a standardized record designed for you to see, as patient-facing capabilities are enabled.
What does it cost me?
Nothing, ever. Everything patients touch is free — no charge to you, and no network fee on access you authorize. That’s permanent, not promotional: the network’s paid side exists to fund the free one.
Which apps can connect?
Ones you choose, connecting through the same patient-access rails federal rules already require insurers to support. Production scopes for authorized applications are being designed; two principles are already fixed: patients choose their apps, and patients can revoke access at any time.
Is my information safe?
The network cannot decrypt what it carries — everything moves sealed, like registered mail, and the network processes only the metadata required to authorize, route, and prove the exchange. Your data is never sold, never pooled into a central database, and never used to train AI. More in the FAQ →
Questions → See the FAQ · Trust inquiries → governance@smarthealthnetwork.org