VIENNA, Va., April 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- eHealth Exchange™ today announced a major milestone toward becoming a CMS-Aligned Network with the successful enablement and live demonstration of secure, standards-based patient access capabilities across its privacy-focused network.

This capability was showcased at an event hosted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in Washington, DC (April 9–10), where eHealth Exchange partnered with b.well Connected Health, a digital health platform for AI-powered consumer experience, and DaVita, a comprehensive kidney care provider, to demonstrate how patients can securely access their health records through a trusted consumer application.

In the demonstration, a kidney patient used the b.well app to securely request and retrieve their medical records from a DaVita location, with eHealth Exchange serving as the trusted network intermediary through the Carequality framework.

Demonstrating Individual Access

eHealth Exchange has long been at the forefront of advancing interoperability, helping to pioneer workflows that support individual access services (IAS) queries as mobile applications and consumer-directed healthcare solutions began to emerge. While the IAS use case has been available for over a decade, it has remained largely underutilized because, in many networks and frameworks, an IAS query currently does not require a response.

Today’s demonstration builds on a strong foundation to bring renewed visibility and momentum to a proven capability. With growing regulatory focus and engagement from CMS, this use case is now positioned to play a critical role in advancing secure, standards-based patient access and data exchange nationwide.

For DaVita, empowering patients with seamless access to their health data is a critical component of supporting individuals managing complex, chronic conditions like end-stage kidney disease, which enables greater engagement, continuity of care, and informed decision-making.

“This is more than a demonstration; it shows that secure, standards-based patient access is not a future goal. It can happen today,” said Jay Nakashima, president at eHealth Exchange. “We are thrilled the use case is getting increased focus with CMS involvement. And importantly, it reflects something that sets eHealth Exchange apart: We are not building from scratch to meet CMS-Aligned Network requirements. We are building on almost two decades of real-world trusted interoperability experience.”

Meaningful Progress Across CMS Requirements

While CMS-Aligned Network minimum viable product requirements are still taking shape, eHealth Exchange is making measurable progress across key capabilities, including patient matching, purpose of use, audit logging, and directory integration. Additional details on this progress and the technical workflow can be found in the accompanying blog post: Taking It One Step at a Time: eHealth Exchange Advances Toward CMS-Aligned Network Readiness - eHealth Exchange

Advancing Interoperability Through Collaboration

eHealth Exchange continues to work closely with CMS and industry partners to operationalize interoperability in a practical, scalable way, taking a phased approach that delivers value today while building toward future requirements.

“Interoperability is a journey, and this milestone represents meaningful forward momentum,” said Nakashima. “We are committed to working collaboratively with CMS and industry partners to bring these capabilities to life.”

The demonstration with b.well and DaVita underscores eHealth Exchange’s leadership and enduring commitment to the public good through early participation. It further illustrates the network’s ability to translate policy into practice—making secure, patient-directed access to health data a reality.

About the eHealth Exchange

eHealth Exchange, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to public good, is the oldest and largest health information network in the country and is best known as the principal way the federal government exchanges clinical data among federal agencies and with the private sector. Recognized for certified data quality, trusted governance, transparency, and its commitment to privacy, eHealth Exchange facilitates the secure exchange of patient records for more than 300 million patients and processes roughly 25 billion data exchanges annually. Vendor-agnostic, with a broad public health focus, eHealth Exchange provides connectivity for more than 30 electronic health record systems, 58 regional and state HIEs, 75 percent of U.S. hospitals, 90 percent of dialysis centers, 70,000 medical groups, and payers in 34 states – as well as countless urgent care centers, surgery centers, and clinical laboratories. Five federal agencies (Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Indian Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, and Social Security Administration) participate in the network to share patient information with private-sector partners as well as other federal agencies. Active in all 50 states, eHealth Exchange connects to other national health information networks today via Carequality and now TEFCA as a Designated QHIN. See: https://ehealthexchange.org / @ehealthexchange.

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