Samsung and b.well Partner to Streamline Health Records Access, ‘Kill the Clipboard’
Samsung Electronics and b.well Connected Health are collaborating to replace traditional paper-based patient intake processes with a smartphone-enabled digital system. This initiative, unveiled at HIMSS 2026, allows Samsung Galaxy users to access and share their comprehensive health history directly through the Samsung Health app, utilizing a QR code for secure data exchange with participating healthcare providers.
Addressing Fragmentation in Healthcare
The partnership builds upon a two-year collaboration focused on creating a more connected consumer health experience. B.well aggregates clinical records from a network exceeding 2.2 million providers and 320 health plans, laboratories, and data sources. Samsung complements this with data from wearable devices and sensors that track metrics like sleep, exercise, and nutrition, consolidating both clinical and wellness information into a single mobile interface.
“Your health information moves with you,” stated Kristen Valdes, CEO and founder of b.well. “Through mobile technology, individuals can carry their electronic health record data with them.”
Secure Data Exchange and Interoperability
Secure data exchange is facilitated by CLEAR1, CLEAR’s secure identity platform, which verifies users and issues a reusable digital IAL2 credential. Samsung’s open ecosystem enables direct connection of consumer devices to clinical workflows, utilizing national standards to securely transfer health data into electronic medical records without manual entry.
“We feel this is an important and much-needed step to start to get at eliminating some of this fragmentation in healthcare,” said Ricky Choi, M.D., head of digital health at Samsung.
Alignment with CMS “Kill the Clipboard” Initiative
This collaboration directly supports the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) “kill the clipboard” initiative, which aims to replace paper intake forms with digital check-ins and promote the adoption of modern interoperability standards. The initiative seeks to address the persistent issue of patients repeatedly providing the same medical information and logging into multiple patient portals.
“The standards have existed for a very long time, and you simply need to adopt them,” Valdes explained. “Getting from a document exchange or CCDA on to FHIR, getting away from portal log-ins and passwords. ‘Portalitis’ is the diagnosis we can eradicate in our lifetimes.”
Amy Gleason, acting administrator of the U.S. DOGE Service and strategic advisor to CMS, noted the growing momentum behind these efforts, stating, “I’ve never seen this kind of momentum,” and announced upcoming awareness campaigns to educate providers and patients about the broader health technology ecosystem.
AI Integration and Conversational Health Assistance
B.well is as well integrating its AI chatbot, ChatGPT Health, with users’ medical records and wellness apps. The conversational AI assistant, bailey, allows patients to query their records and interpret clinical data. “Our conversational AI allows consumers to interact and ask questions of their health record, and they can see visualized trend lines for things like, ‘What was my average A1C over the last six to 12 months?’ and then get education and information around that,” Valdes said.
The seamless integration between Samsung Health and the b.well Connected Health platform represents a significant advancement in providing consumers with a unified and holistic health experience.