About
Surescripts operates the nation's largest health intelligence network, facilitating billions of secure data exchanges annually between prescribers, pharmacies, health plans, and other healthcare stakeholders. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of solutions spanning Intelligent Prescribing, Intelligent Prior Authorization, Benefit & Price Intelligence, Interoperability, Value-Based Care, and Care Team Evolution. Key product capabilities include Electronic Prescribing (including controlled substances), Real-Time Prescription Benefit for instant formulary and cost transparency, Electronic Prior Authorization to reduce administrative delays, and Medication History tools for ambulatory, population, and reconciliation use cases. Surescripts also provides Eligibility verification, Formulary management, and Clinical Direct Messaging to support care coordination. The platform serves a broad range of healthcare stakeholders including EHR vendors, health systems, PBMs, specialty pharmacies, long-term and post-acute care facilities, patient access vendors, and healthcare analytics companies. By standardizing and automating the flow of health intelligence, Surescripts helps reduce prescription abandonment, accelerate prior authorization decisions, and give clinicians actionable data at the point of care. It is widely recognized for its network certifications, accreditations, and industry awards, making it a foundational infrastructure layer in U.S. healthcare.
Key Features
- Electronic Prescribing: Enables providers to send prescriptions electronically—including controlled substances—directly to pharmacies, reducing errors and improving prescription fulfillment rates.
- Electronic Prior Authorization: Automates the prior authorization process within EHR workflows, dramatically reducing delays and administrative burden for providers and payers.
- Real-Time Prescription Benefit: Delivers instant formulary, coverage, and patient cost information at the point of prescribing so clinicians can choose the most effective and affordable medication.
- Medication History: Provides comprehensive patient medication history for ambulatory care, population health, and care reconciliation, supporting safer clinical decisions.
- Clinical Direct Messaging & Interoperability: Facilitates secure, standards-based clinical messaging and data exchange across the healthcare ecosystem to support care coordination and value-based care initiatives.
Use Cases
- A physician uses Surescripts e-prescribing to send a prescription electronically to the patient's preferred pharmacy, reducing manual errors and improving fill rates.
- A health plan integrates Surescripts Electronic Prior Authorization to process PA requests in real time within provider EHR workflows, cutting approval times from days to minutes.
- A hospital care team accesses a patient's complete medication history via Surescripts during an admission, enabling accurate reconciliation and preventing dangerous drug interactions.
- A PBM uses Surescripts Real-Time Prescription Benefit to surface patient-specific drug costs and formulary alternatives to prescribers at the point of care, reducing prescription abandonment.
- A life sciences company leverages Surescripts healthcare analytics data to understand prescribing patterns and support evidence-based market access strategies.
Pros
- Largest national health intelligence network: Surescripts connects virtually every pharmacy, most prescribers, and thousands of health plans across the U.S., ensuring broad reach for data exchange.
- Reduces administrative burden: Automated prior authorization, e-prescribing, and eligibility verification save significant time for clinical and administrative staff.
- Improves patient safety and care quality: Real-time medication history and benefit intelligence at the point of care help prevent adverse drug events and reduce prescription abandonment.
- Certified and accredited network: Surescripts holds industry certifications and accreditations, giving healthcare organizations confidence in the security and reliability of the network.
Cons
- Enterprise and B2B only: Surescripts is designed exclusively for healthcare organizations, EHR vendors, and payers—individual consumers or small independent practices may find onboarding complex.
- Implementation complexity: Integrating Surescripts solutions often requires technical resources and coordination with EHR vendors or third-party developers, increasing time-to-value.
- Pricing not publicly disclosed: Surescripts operates on enterprise contract pricing, meaning costs are not transparent and may vary significantly based on organization size and solution set.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Surescripts?
Surescripts is a national health intelligence network that enables secure, real-time exchange of prescription, eligibility, medication history, and clinical data among healthcare organizations including providers, pharmacies, health plans, and EHR vendors.
Who uses Surescripts?
Surescripts serves EHR vendors, health plans, health systems, pharmacies, PBMs, specialty pharmacies, life sciences companies, long-term care facilities, patient access vendors, and healthcare analytics organizations.
What solutions does Surescripts offer?
Surescripts offers solutions in Intelligent Prescribing, Intelligent Prior Authorization, Benefit & Price Intelligence, Interoperability, Value-Based Care, and Care Team Evolution—including products like e-prescribing, medication history, real-time prescription benefit, and electronic prior authorization.
Is Surescripts HIPAA compliant?
Yes. Surescripts operates under strict regulatory and security standards appropriate for healthcare data exchange, and maintains industry certifications and accreditations to ensure the network remains trusted and compliant.
How does Surescripts integrate with EHR systems?
Surescripts integrates with EHR systems through certified APIs and network connections. EHR vendors can partner with Surescripts to embed prescribing, prior authorization, formulary, and medication history capabilities directly into clinical workflows.
