In addition to the questions below, in October 2023, we published a FAQ on our blog that talks to various industry and regulatory issues.

How often should we send patient data to Particle?

The general recommendation from the networks is to share new information on your patients within 30 days of having queried that patient. However, data can be shared as frequently as immediately following an encounter where net-new patient data is generated. Note that the networks aim to avoid an imbalance in data requested vs. data shared, so a 1:1 balance between these two actions is recommended.

What type of data should we send?

The networks do not currently have explicit guidance on which data to share back. The only requirements are that it (1) is net-new as a result of an encounter that the patient had and (2) is usable by a clinician elsewhere to treat the patient.

What file types are acceptable?

Clinical data-sharing frameworks largely operate on C-CDA files in XML format. Most healthcare systems have traditionally been built to accommodate these documents. As a result, the best path towards interoperability is creating a C-CDA file for uploading. Other file types are sometimes able to be consumed, such as PDFs, but not across the board.

How long is the data stored?

As a service to our clients, Particle Health hosts the clinical data uploaded for bi-directionality requirements. The uploaded data is made available for search to qualified endpoints on the networks. This data is hosted by Particle Health and only expunged once Particle's relationship with the client has ended.