Surescripts Intends to Apply to be a Qualified Health Information Network

April 17, 2023 at 08:00 AM EDT

Nationwide Network Supports the Retrieval of More than 1 Billion Clinical Documents Annually

Surescripts, the nation’s leading health information network, intends to apply to become a Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN), reinforcing its commitment to the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) that creates a set of common policies and practices to allow for the secure sharing of clinical information among healthcare organizations.

“Surescripts has been an industry-leading example of interoperability for more than 20 years,” said Tara Dragert, Chief Product Officer, Surescripts. “We support the goals of TEFCA and are committed to innovation that fundamentally changes the interoperability landscape to support healthcare professionals, patients and their families.”

Surescripts connects more than 2 million healthcare professionals and organizations with trusted healthcare intelligence for over 99% of American patients. In 2022, Surescripts processed 21.7 billion health information transactions, all based on data standards designed for nationwide interoperability and supported by continuous work to protect and improve network privacy, security and performance.

According to the recently released Surescripts 2022 National Progress Report, more than 250,000 clinicians across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. (27% more users than in 2021) used Surescripts Record Locator & Exchange to locate and exchange more than 100 million clinical documents each month—bringing the total number of clinical documents retrieved to more than 1 billion annually for the first time.

Surescripts Record Locator & Exchange, based on the HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard, helps clinicians find and retrieve clinical documents exchanged via Carequality—a national, consensus-based interoperability framework that enables information exchange among health data sharing networks. This technology delivers vital intelligence that informs healthcare providers during key care events, including patient intake, hospital admission, transitions of care, and specialty medication enrollment.

“The FHIR standard makes up a critical part of the Surescripts infrastructure and is already a core component of several of our solutions,” said Mark Gingrich, Chief Information Officer, Surescripts. “We’re committed to moving the industry forward by helping to scale the adoption of the FHIR standard to meet the interoperability goals in the 21st Century Cures Act. It’s something we have championed for a long time through participation in HL7 accelerators, including the Argonaut Project, the DaVinci Project and FAST, and we intend to continue to champion as a QHIN.”

The Surescripts Network Alliance® includes nearly all electronic health records (EHR) vendors, pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacies and clinicians, plus health plans, long-term and post-acute care organizations, specialty hubs and specialty pharmacy organizations.

Surescripts will share more about its commitment to broadening healthcare interoperability at HIMSS23 in Chicago, April 17-21, 2023. To learn more, visit booth 1851 in McCormick Place or join Surescripts at the DaVinci Project welcome happy hour on April 17, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. CT at McCormick West Building, Level 2, Dusable A (CC21A).

About Surescripts

Our purpose is to serve the nation through simpler, trusted health intelligence sharing, in order to increase patient safety, lower costs and ensure quality care. At Surescripts, we align healthcare organizations across the nation and give healthcare professionals the trusted insights they need to serve patients. We convene the Surescripts Network Alliance® to enhance prescribing, better inform care decisions and advance healthcare as a whole. Together, we’re making interoperability an everyday reality, making it simpler to choose medications patients can afford and adhere to, and getting specialty medications to patients more efficiently. Visit us at surescripts.com and follow us at twitter.com/surescripts.