> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.sygnal.network/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.sygnal.network/why-sygnal/how-sygnal-helps.md). # How Sygnal helps Exchanges move the record. Sygnal moves the handoff alongside it, and follows it through. ## Exchanges move the record. Sygnal moves the handoff alongside it. Health information exchanges and FHIR services move a patient's record between platforms. Sygnal works alongside them. When a platform creates a referral, a follow-up, a scheduled visit or a field task, Sygnal helps it become a **coordination promise** between two platforms. Sygnal carries the promise directly between them so that **both sides agree it happened**, and then **follows it** against the rules the health system has set. When the promise breaks, Sygnal sends a flag to the system used by whoever is accountable for closing it. The platforms a health system has already invested in mostly work. Their limit is that each works within its own walls, while a patient's journey runs across several. Sygnal removes that barrier, so the health system gets the value it has already built across the whole journey. ## The four moves The same four moves apply to any coordination promise. A referral is the clearest one to follow. | Move | What happens | | -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Facilitate** | Sygnal helps set up the referral and carries the handoff between the two platforms. Both sides sign what they sent and received, so they agree it happened. | | **Track** | The handoff is followed against the health system's own rules (accepted, completed, on time), not a generic rule. | | **Detect** | A deviation shows up as soon as an expected step does not happen. The party that was waiting raises it, so nobody has to notice it by chance. | | **Escalate** | The flag goes to the accountable role and climbs a defined ladder if it stays open. | Put plainly: Sygnal helps set up a handoff. It then lets the platforms around it track the handoff, detect any deviation and escalate what stays open. Each move is something Sygnal lets the health system do, not something it does to a patient. The outcome it records is a **coordination outcome** (completed, closed, still open), never a clinical result. ## What it delivers **Efficacy.** Clinical guidelines and care pathways improve care, but only inside the platform that holds them. When a patient moves, the new platform doesn't know where they are on the pathway or which step is due. Sygnal carries the coordination state with the handoff, so the next step is known on the other side. **Efficiency.** Repeated registrations, duplicate tests and chased referrals are the cost of a journey that is invisible between platforms. Sygnal confirms the handoff, so the receiving provider knows the patient is expected and which step is due. **Experience.** A patient who arrives as a stranger, and a health worker holding follow-ups in their head, are both symptoms of coordination that no single platform owns. Sygnal makes the handoff explicit and flags what is still open, so the care team's system reminds them instead of relying on memory. {% hint style="info" %} Sygnal makes sure the coordination signal gets through. It does not guarantee the clinical outcome; that stays with the people and protocols delivering care. What Sygnal removes is the barrier that stops existing investment from working across the whole journey. {% endhint %} ## Who benefits * **Patients** are expected when they arrive, aren't re-examined from scratch at each handoff, and are less likely to disappear silently between platforms. * **Frontline and community health workers** get worklists of the people who are actually overdue, instead of blanket follow-up across a whole catchment area. Their coordination work also becomes visible. * **Providers** know whether a referral they sent was received, accepted and completed. * **Programme managers and health authorities** can see where the care cascade breaks: referral completion, time to acceptance, follow-up gaps. They get this from coordination metadata, without building a central store of clinical records. * **Platform vendors** connect once, to an open protocol, and can then coordinate with every other participant on the network. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question. 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