Prior-authorization testing is open using synthetic data. Start testing

Cut Paperwork, Not Care.

One network for trusted interaction.

Bring your systems. Bring your transactions. Bring your counterparties. Connect the systems you already use to a shared network for identity, authority and secure exchange. Start with prior authorization. Reuse the same foundation across more participating organizations and supported transactions.

Watch the 45-second explainer →Get connected →

Developers: start testing →

One Patient Journey — the Smart Health Network explainer (45 seconds). Captions available in the player.

Fix the connection, not just the fax.

Healthcare happens between organizations, but technology has been built around individual organizations. A provider and a health plan can each have modern software and still depend on phone calls, separate portals and repeated paperwork to finish a request — and every new relationship starts the connection work over again.

SHN provides a common network for that work. Organizations can reuse connections, trusted information about who they are working with, and common rules instead of rebuilding the same arrangements for each relationship.

Connect once. Reach everyone. Across organizations and use cases.

N × N — separate connections

Repeat onboarding, credentials, configuration and testing across each payer-provider relationship.

N × 1 — a shared way to connect
TheHub

Establish the common connection and testing work, then reuse it as more organizations participate.

Before: separate arrangements, repeated work. Repeated onboarding, credentials, configuration and testing across payer-provider relationships (N x N).

After: one shared network, reusable connections. Establish the common connection and testing work once, then reuse it as more organizations participate (N x 1).

Reach participating organizations through supported transactions. Each organization keeps its systems, data and decisions.

Does the second connection become easier than the first? Does the fifth? That is the test.

You can track a pizza. You should be able to follow a request for care.

Was the request received? Is something missing? Who needs to act next?

SHN can bring those answers together across the provider and health plan, so the person waiting for care does not have to piece them together by phone.

Prior authorization · synthetic example
  1. Request submitted · delivered
    Delivery confirmed by the network
  2. Received by the plan
    Source: the plan’s system · Updated 10:42 AM · Next: plan review
  3. Decision reported
    Synthetic source decision, reported by the plan
A request can also branch to More information needed, with the responsible party shown.

Illustrative Member experience, not a live patient tracker. Member-service availability will be announced separately.

See the patient experience →

When a missing document becomes a delay in care

From a recorded Delaware prior-authorization call, May 15, 2026:

Dr. Hockstein: “Well, you had my note. You did have my note.”
Reviewer: “We did not have your note.”
Dr. Hockstein: “You have no clinical information on this patient?”
Reviewer: “I have nothing attached to this patient’s request. That is why we said we could not approve it.”
Dr. Hockstein: “So it was denied without asking for additional information?”

— Neil Hockstein, MD · Delaware Surgeon General · Health Care Commission Chair · practicing head & neck surgeon

Watch: One Patient Journey — the 45-second explainer →

Join. Connect. Choose. Transact.

1. Join the network
Establish identity and standing under the common Network Rules — who is participating and who is accountable.
2. Connect once
Attach existing systems through qualified Gateway functionality — self-operated, embedded in a product, or operator-supplied.
3. Choose your transactions
Select supported actions and counterparties, implement the native bindings, qualify and activate.
4. Transact
Send and receive through existing applications, and follow delivery, acceptance, status and outcomes.

The test is simple: does the next counterparty or transaction take less work to activate than the first? How it works, step by step →

Delaware is putting the network to work.

Demonstrated, on synthetic data: at the October 14 Connectathon, 25+ outside organizations completed 178 test exchanges, including 72 test authorization decisions, with 97.5% of evaluable responses successful — independent systems exchanging prior authorization end to end through the shared network (recap). Testing results, not production volumes.

Behind it: Delaware is investing $50 million over five years through its Rural Health Transformation Program in shared healthcare transaction infrastructure, bringing together Medicaid, health plans, providers and technology partners, starting with prior authorization.

Other states and participants can use the same network and build on the implementation experience rather than start over.

Readiness: testing uses synthetic data and can begin before a production agreement. Limited production for accepted medical prior-authorization workflows begins December 1; January 1 is the production milestone. Upcoming sessions on the Road to January.
Explore Delaware’s implementation →Bring your state into the shared effort →

What this means for you

Providers →
Spend less time chasing authorizations and rebuilding payer connections.
Health plans →
Help providers use the APIs you are already building.
States →
Make modernization investments work together across the market.
Patients and care teams →
See what is happening and what comes next.
HIEs and technology partners →
Extend the value of your existing services through a shared network.

Common exchange without transaction tolls.

SHN charges no fees to join or connect, and no transaction fees for designated Open Access transactions, including the designated CMS interoperability transactions.

Organizations can choose additional help operating a connection, managing their network relationships or producing authorized analysis. Those services are optional. Participants still cover their own integration and operating costs. What is included and what is optional →

October 8, 2026: Version 1.0 of the Network Rules and Participation Agreement is published. Rules & Participation →

A network competitors can trust.

SHN is a neutral public-benefit utility for organizations and people across healthcare. Its Public Benefit Corporation structure, common rules and independent Governance Council protect that purpose. An independent Data Rights Trust safeguards defined patient data rights, and a Participant Advisory Council gives users a voice in how the network evolves.

How neutrality and patient rights are protected →

Start with prior authorization. Build for the rest of care.

The same practice that requests an authorization also makes referrals, exchanges clinical information and coordinates follow-up after a hospital stay. Those jobs have different requirements, but they should not need a new underlying network every time.

SHN is common infrastructure for those interactions. Prior authorization is the first major implementation, not the limit of the network.

Cut administrative waste. Reuse the work of connecting and reduce manual handoffs, so more resources can go toward care.

Make coordinated care practical. Value-based care depends on health plans, providers and people working together across organizational boundaries.

Give AI a better foundation. Better software should not have to work around the same disconnected portals and faxes. Shared connections and clear responsibilities make useful automation easier to put to work.

See the full transaction catalog →

Common infrastructure can work across jurisdictions while institutions retain local authority over their systems and data.

For public jurisdictions and international partners →

The Team

Built by people who have done this before.

The team behind Smart Health Network has built and operated real-time health infrastructure at national scale — across providers, payers, and the standards bodies that govern how health information moves. Meet the people →

Engage

Connect once. Do more together.

Bring a prior-authorization workflow, an existing implementation or the organizations in your market. Start with the systems you already have and identify the work that can be shared.

Connect your organization →Start testing →

Bring one workflow, one implementation challenge or the organizations in your market. Start testing, join an Action Forum or talk with the team about how to participate.

Please do not include patient information, passwords or production credentials. See our Website Privacy Policy for how inquiry information is handled.

State agencies considering an RHTP planstates@smarthealthnetwork.org
Providers and health systems ready to connect across the participating marketproviders@smarthealthnetwork.org
Payers ready to participate on shared, neutral infrastructurepayers@smarthealthnetwork.org
Council and Trust inquiriesgovernance@smarthealthnetwork.org
Press and mediapress@smarthealthnetwork.org
Developersdevelopers@smarthealthnetwork.org
Privacyprivacy@smarthealthnetwork.org
Partnership and institutional inquiriespartners@smarthealthnetwork.org

Smart Health Network PBC · A mission-locked Delaware Public Benefit Corporation