Need Fast, Complete Patient Records? Here's Why You Should Care About the National Networks
If you’ve ever faxed a request for medical records, spent hours calling hospital departments, or waited days (or weeks) for data to show up, you’ve likely asked yourself: Isn’t there a faster way to get patient records? Good news: There is.
In fact, national data exchange networks already connect hospitals, clinics, and health systems across the country, exchanging over 1.2 billion documents per month. However, many people in healthcare and health tech still don’t understand how these networks work or how to plug into them without the usual integration headaches.
Here’s what you need to know to get started.
What Are National Networks?
At their core, national networks like eHealth Exchange, CommonWell Health Alliance, and Carequality are infrastructures that allow healthcare organizations to securely share patient data across systems, organizations, and EHR platforms.
These networks are built on the concept of “trusted exchange,” meaning participants agree to certain legal, technical, and operational standards so that data can flow safely and consistently.
What Makes a Network “Trusted”?
Trusted exchange networks typically include:
A technical framework for how data is shared
Participant directories, so you know who’s in the network
Certificate-based security
Legal agreements that require participants to respond to data queries, not just send them
Participation fees (which may vary depending on whether you connect directly or through an intermediary)
And with the federal TEFCA (Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement) initiative gaining momentum, it’s more important than ever to understand how these networks interconnect.
So...Why Should I Care?
Here’s the short answer:
If you need fast, reliable access to complete medical records nationwide, this is the backbone that makes it happen.
But until now, getting that access has been frustratingly complex. You had to:
Integrate with each EHR
Set up individual credentials
Log into third-party portals
Navigate red tape and faxes
The Painless Way to Access These Networks
With GetPatientRecords, accessing nationwide medical records is simple. All you need to do is enter basic patient demographics and a general treatment location. From there, you can instantly query across participating organizations and receive full patient histories in seconds; no EHR integration, custom partnerships, portal logins, or fax follow-ups required. You’ll get structured summaries like CCDs, PDFs, and raw clinical documents—including notes, imaging, labs, and more—from hospitals, clinics, and health systems across the country, regardless of whether they use Epic, Cerner, Athena, eClinicalWorks, or any other EHR.
The Bottom Line
National networks are the hidden engine behind seamless data sharing in healthcare, and now, they’re easier than ever to access. If you’re building health tech, coordinating care, managing populations, or supporting remote patients, you don’t need to wait days (or build costly integrations) to get the records you need.
GetPatientRecords makes it fast, painless, and complete. Schedule your demo today.
