Athenahealth, b.well announce patient-led health data sharing workflow
The new point-of-care workflow introduced by athenahealth and b.well Connected Health aims to "kill the clipboard," as directed by CMS's health tech ecosystem initiative.
Athenahealth and b.well Connected Health announced a new point-of-care workflow on Monday, in alignment with CMS's health tech ecosystem initiative. The workflow will enable patients to use b.well apps to digitally corral their medical records from different sources into a streamlined, patient-controlled view, the companies stated.
Both athenahealth and b.well joined the CMS health tech ecosystem initiative in July 2025. It garnered widespread support from major tech companies, providers and health app developers.
The initiative's main goals are to establish an interoperability framework to improve information sharing between patients and providers and increase the availability of personalized tools so patients have the information they need to make health decisions.
Under this initiative, companies like athenahealth and b.well pledged to "kill the clipboard," vowing to empower patients to retrieve their health records from apps or CMS-aligned networks and share them with providers via QR codes or smart health cards using FHIR bundles.
In an effort to fulfill this pledge, the new workflow from athenahealth and b.well aims to allow patients to share their health information without multiple portal logins, paperwork and faxes, the companies stated.
The workflow applies to practices using athenaOne, athenahealth's cloud-based suite of EHR, patient engagement and revenue cycle management tools. Patients can use apps powered by b.well to consolidate their medical records and share information with providers using a QR code.
Practitioners can scan the QR code to review the information and add it to the patient's athenaOne chart. After the visit, the appointment notes will be available in the athena patient portal and their b.well apps. Patients will also be able to share information collected from their wearables and consumer health apps, if they choose to.
"Patients shouldn't have to work around healthcare technology systems to bring their data into care," Kristen Valdes, CEO and Founder of b.well, said in the announcement.
"With this approach, they can share exactly what they want, when they want, without losing control of their information."
The companies said they expect a broader rollout of this capability in 2026.
Jill Hughes has covered healthcare cybersecurity and privacy news since 2021.
