Overview

Enable fast, secure healthcare communication

Connect pharmacists, prescribers and other healthcare professionals with reliable, seamless messaging using an unparalleled nationwide network with unrivaled security. Clinical Direct Messaging allows you to send and receive HIPAA-compliant information across multiple care collaboration scenarios within existing workflows. Efficiently manage time-sensitive communications, maximize incentives and avoid penalties. 

823,000

individuals and organizations used Clinical Direct Messaging in 20221

23.4 million

electronic case reports sent to public health agencies nationwide in 20221

220 million

patients covered by health plans and PBMs used Clinical Direct Messaging in 20221

A closer look

What can Clinical Direct Messaging do for you?

Choose your organization type to see how Clinical Direct Messaging can help you collaborate and effectively coordinate care using seamless information sharing.

  • Chain pharmacies
  • EHR vendors
  • Health plans
  • Health systems
  • Long-term & post-acute care
  • PBMs
  • Specialty pharmacies

Replace calls and faxes with fast, secure collaboration

Stop relying on outdated technology and tap into secure electronic communication—including the ability to send immunization records to verified providers. Coordinate medication management, address controlled substance abuse and aid collaborative practice agreements with in-workflow messaging. 

icon streamline comm 2
Streamline communication

Connect electronically to providers across healthcare with simple, secure, standards-based exchange of health information.

icon lighten workload
Lighten your workload

Use smart messaging to sort and handle time-sensitive communications, including immunization notifications, medication therapy management and provider questions.

icon patient safety 1
Improve patient safety

Share information with prescribers in order to decrease adverse drug events, address controlled substance abuse and get patients on therapy sooner.

How it works for pharmacies

Identify patients whose providers you need to reach.

Determine which patients have coverage changes or other updates that need to be shared with their providers.

Send your message template file to Surescripts.

Share the content of your message with Surescripts in a flat file.

Surescripts formats the message and routes it to the provider workflow.

Rely on Surescripts’ proven best practices to make sure providers get your update in a format that’s easy to consume.

Surescripts notifies you when the message is delivered.

The message is securely received by the provider, regardless of which EHR or other platform they are using.

ChainPharmacy@2x 2

Replace calls and faxes with fast, secure collaboration

Enable secure care coordination within your electronic health record (EHR) system, including electronic case reporting and transitions of care. Help coordinate medication management, send referral and consultation notes, address controlled substance abuse and aid collaborative practice agreements. 

icon enable confident care
Enable confident care decisions

Bring care history into focus for secure care coordination, including hospital discharges and transitions of care.

icon improve transitions 1
Improve transitions of care

Ensure information moves with a patient when they change care settings—including hospital, ambulatory and long-term care, home health and rehabilitation facilities. 

icon streamline comm 1
Streamline communication

Give the providers using your EHR solution an easy way to send secure communications within their existing electronic workflows.

icon aid reporting 1
Aid public health reporting

Enable electronic case report submission directly from the EHR to public health agencies in jurisdictions around the country. 

How it works for EHR vendors

Implement Clinical Direct Messaging within your EHR workflow.

Establish an inbox/outbox in your EHR to send, receive and manage two-way messages and enable users to share records.

Providers select a destination for their record or message using Surescripts directories.

Easily connect to thousands of providers, including pharmacies and primary care physicians.

Surescripts verifies the destination and routes the message to the correct recipient.

Contact verification allows providers to confidently route protected health information to the intended recipients.

Providers can coordinate care and get more patient insights quickly.

Two-way messaging lets providers easily collaborate across organizations within their workflow.

Replace calls and faxes with fast, secure collaboration

Outdated communications technology slows you down when you need to share critical information like coverage changes and formulary updates. Clinical Direct Messaging electronically connects you to the providers who serve your members via secure, HIPAA-compliant messaging based on the Direct standard.

icon connect at scale 1
Connect at scale or 1:1

Improve care collaboration by reaching care teams within existing workflows. Contact groups of providers with targeted messaging or individuals with two-way messaging.

icon close gaps 1
Close gaps in care

Securely communicate with providers about members in high-risk populations who may have gaps in care.

icon improve care 1
Improve patient care and satisfaction

Streamline communications so providers can spend more time with your members—and make better-informed care decisions. 

icon safe affordable 1
Keep care safe and affordable

Deliver important updates about formulary changes and drug safety notices so that prescribers can update your members’ treatment plans as needed.

How it works for health plans

Identify members whose providers you need to reach.

Determine which members have coverage changes or other updates that need to be shared with their providers.

Send your message template file to Surescripts.

Share the content of your message with Surescripts in a flat file. 

Surescripts formats the message and routes it to the provider workflow.

Rely on Surescripts’ proven best practices to make sure providers get your update in a format that’s easy to consume.

Surescripts notifies you when the message is delivered.

The message is securely received by the provider, regardless of which EHR or other platform they are using. 

HealthPlans PBMs@2x 4

Harness the industry’s most powerful clinical communication solution

Securely exchange actionable patient intelligence via a single connection while meeting regulatory requirements with ease.

icon better care coordination 2
Power better care coordination

Keep clinicians informed about patient care and medication history including immunizations.

icon safer prescribing 1
Enable safer prescribing decisions

Digitally share medical records to help avoid adverse drug events.

icon public health reporting 1
Streamline public health reporting

Transmit electronic case reports to public health agencies in jurisdictions across the country quickly and securely.

icon get started
Get started quickly

Sign up and start sending messages using HL7 standards right away—no development required.

How it works for health systems

Set up Clinical Direct Messaging within your EHR workflow.

Establish an inbox/outbox in your EHR to send, receive and manage two-way messages and enable users to share records.

Your team selects a destination for their record or message.

Easily connect to thousands of other providers, including pharmacies and primary care physicians.

Surescripts verifies the destination and routes the message to the correct recipient.

Contact verification allows you to confidently route protected health information to the intended recipients.

Your team can coordinate care and get more patient insights quickly.

Two-way messaging lets your team easily collaborate across organizations within their workflow.

Replace calls and faxes with fast, secure collaboration

Enable secure care coordination with providers across care settings and expedite electronic case reporting to public health agencies.

icon complete view
Get a complete view of care

Make it easy for providers to reach out to other healthcare organizations to prepare for intake and develop fully informed treatment plans. 

icon patient safety 1
Put patient safety first

Help prevent errors and adverse drug events caused by holes in patient care histories and clinical records.

icon smater workflow
Create smarter workflows

Allow providers to categorize and prioritize correspondence within their workflow, so they get the timely information they need to provide better-informed care.

icon support compliance
Support regulatory compliance

As a full-service health information services provider that can communicate with government organizations, Clinical Direct Messaging helps maximize incentives and avoid regulatory penalties.

How it works for long-term & post-acute care

Implement Clinical Direct Messaging within your EHR workflow.

Establish an inbox/outbox in your EHR to send, receive and manage two-way messages and enable users to share records.

Providers select a destination for their record or message using Surescripts directories.

Easily connect to thousands of providers, including pharmacies and primary care physicians.

Surescripts verifies the destination and routes the message to the correct recipient.

Contact verification allows providers to confidently route protected health information to the intended recipients.

Providers can coordinate care and get more patient insights quickly.

Two-way messaging lets providers easily collaborate within your EHR, creating a more complete view of patient care.

EHRVendors HealthSystems LongtermCare@2x 2

Replace calls and faxes with fast, secure collaboration

Reliably send and receive information across multiple care collaboration scenarios. Share important updates with prescribers via a secure, HIPAA-compliant solution.

icon time sensitive updates 1
Deliver time-sensitive updates

Send updates about formulary changes, drug safety notices and gaps in care directly to thousands of healthcare professionals via a secure, HIPAA-compliant solution.

icon close gaps 1
Close gaps in care

Securely communicate with providers about patients in high-risk populations who may have gaps in care.

icon improve care 1
Boost patient care and satisfaction

Streamline communications so providers can spend more time with patients—and make better-informed care decisions. 

How it works for PBMs

Identify members whose providers you need to reach.

Determine which members have coverage changes or other updates that need to be shared with their providers.

Send your message template file to Surescripts.

Share the content of your message with Surescripts in a flat file. 

Surescripts formats the message and routes it to the provider workflow.

Rely on Surescripts’ proven best practices to make sure providers get your update in a format that’s easy to consume.

Surescripts notifies you when the message is delivered.

The message is securely received by the provider, regardless of which EHR or other platform they are using. 

HealthPlans PBMs@2x 4

Replace calls and faxes with fast, secure collaboration

Collaborate with prescribers and other care team members across multiple care collaboration scenarios via fast, secure electronic messaging. Coordinate medication management and aid collaborative practice agreements with in-workflow communication.

icon streamline comm 2
Streamline communication

Connect electronically to providers across healthcare with simple, secure, standards-based exchange of health information.

icon lighten workload
Lighten your workload

Use smart messaging to sort and handle time-sensitive communications, including immunization notifications, medication therapy management and provider questions.

icon patient safety 1
Reduce time to therapy

Spend less time tracking down patient information, which can lead to delays that hinder critical treatment.

How it works for specialty pharmacies

A pharmacist or technician selects a message recipient.

Leverage the Surescripts directory to reach thousands of providers, including clinics and primary care physicians.

Surescripts checks the destination and routes the message.

Contact verification lets you confidently send protected health information to the correct recipient. 

Delivery is confirmed.

The message is delivered and Surescripts sends an update to your pharmacy management system.

Securely received.

The message is securely received, regardless of which EHR or platform the recipient is using.

SpecialtyPharmacy@2x 2
Features In Focus

Reach many providers at once with targeted messages

Targeted messages let pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and health plans quickly message a group of providers to share coverage changes, formulary updates and other information that may affect care plans.

Start with your message content

Determine which members have coverage changes, immunization records, or other updates to share with providers and send Surescripts the message information in a flat file.

Let Surescripts handle formatting and routing

Surescripts uses proven best practices to format the message to ensure it is securely routed to the provider workflow.

Be certain your message was delivered

Receive confirmation of delivery, regardless of which EHR or other platform the provider uses.

Success Stories

Real-world results

“In the world of public health, diseases often move faster than data. [Electronic case reporting using Clinical Direct Messaging] automates the submission of case reports from healthcare providers, reducing the burden of meeting the legal requirement to report while improving the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of data for public health action.”

Patina Zarcone-Gagne, Director of Informatics, APHL

“One health plan with more than 26 million patients across all 50 states is using this technology to prompt providers to complete medication reviews, notify them about patient adherence issues such as missed pickups, and monitor statin use in patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

“There are multiple means by which data can be pushed from provider organizations out to public health. This one is potentially the most robust data set.”

Steven Lane, M.D., M.P.H. Former Clinical Informatics Director, Privacy, Information Security & Interoperability, Sutter Health
FAQs

Find out more about Clinical Direct Messaging

Where can I learn more about Clinical Direct Messaging costs?

See our ONC Market Transparency Public Disclosure statement to learn more about Clinical Direct Messaging costs. 

Where can I find Real World Testing Plan and Results documentation for 2022, 2023 and 2024, as required by the 21st Century Cures Act?
Insights

Keep pace with healthcare innovation

Footnotes
  1. Surescripts, “2022 National Progress Report,” March 2023.
Read More