Cross-Network Directory Service

The growing adoption of distributed health data networks to facilitate large-scale evidence generation studies (e.g., comparative safety and effectiveness), as well as other public health activities, provides an opportunity to leverage those investments to create a national resource that enables a true Learning Health System. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others are supporting various forms of distributed health data networks. Together, these networking infrastructure investments can be integrated to support needs across funding agencies and the broader public health community.

The Cross-Network Directory Service (CNDS) project demonstrates the real-world interoperability across two existing networks: FDA's Sentinel System and the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet).