Surescripts Achieves DirectTrust Accreditation; Uhrig Named DirectTrust Vice Chair

SURESCRIPTS ACHIEVES DIRECTTRUST ACCREDITATION; UHRIG NAMED DIRECT TRUST VICE CHAIR

ARLINGTON, Va. - May 28, 2013 - Surescripts, the nation's largest health information network, has received full accreditation from the Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program (DTAAP), an accreditation program for health information service providers (HISPs).  DTAAP is offered on a voluntary basis by DirectTrust, an independent non-profit association dedicated to securing the exchange of health information between providers and patients.

The DirectTrust accreditation recognizes excellence in health information exchange and transactions via the Direct protocols, and confirms compliance with industry-established standards for security and trust, and with healthcare regulatory reform measures.  DTAAP was developed by DirectTrust in partnership with the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body.  The criteria for DTAAP include privacy, security and confidentiality; technical performance; resources; and implementation specifications; as well as a self-attestation and site review.

"DirectTrust's goal is to establish and maintain a set of technical, legal and business standards expressed as policies and best practices recommendations, which members of the trust community agree to follow, uphold, and enforce," said DirectTrust President and CEO David C. Kibbe, MD, MBA.  "As a founding member of DirectTrust, we are proud of Surescripts' accreditation and industry leadership in ensuring affordable and secure exchange of health information for Stage 2 Meaningful Use between providers, and between providers and patients."

Surescripts' portfolio of solutions allow clinical care information -- including clinical messages, immunization summaries, CCDs, referrals, discharge summaries and lab results -- to be transmitted between doctors, practices and health systems locally and nationally across all technology platforms.  In addition to the EHNAC-DirectTrust accreditation, Surescripts' Clinical Interoperability solutions support all federal and state policies and standards for health information exchange, including privacy and security standards (such as HIPAA and state law), technology interoperability standards (such as Direct), and message types (such as HL7 and CCDA).  Through its strategic relationships with NextGen, GE, Epic and a number of other leading EHR vendors, Surescripts delivers clinical messages that support the information needs of healthcare communities nationwide.

Uhrig Named DirectTrust Vice Chair
Paul Uhrig, chief administrative and legal officer and chief privacy officer of Surescripts, has also been appointed vice chair of the Board of Directors of DirectTrust.  Uhrig will continue to serve as secretary and treasurer of DirectTrust.

"Surescripts was one of the founding members of DirectTrust, and over the years we have continued to support Direct and other security standards and initiatives to ensure accountability and trust in the electronic exchange of health information," said Uhrig.  "The DTAAP accreditation for HIE, combined with our ISO certification for e-prescribing, underscores Surescripts' lead role in creating a secure environment for the exchange of clinical health information."

Direct is a national effort to fast-track electronic information exchange.  It benefits physicians and patients by improving the transport of health information across different electronic health record (EHR) systems.  With Direct, messages are transported between trusted parties, and the privacy, security and trusted identity are assured for Directed exchange participants, including hospitals, healthcare professionals and patients.

About DirectTrust Direct
Trust is an independent non-profit trade association created by and for participants in the Direct community.  Its goal is to establish and maintain a national Security and Trust Framework in support of Directed exchange.  Members of DirectTrust now include over 60 representatives from HISPs, HIEs, certificate authorities, consultants, state agencies and EHR vendors, as well as health care providers who are their purchasers and subscribers.  DirectTrust is competitively neutral, and we welcome new participants.  In March 2013, DirectTrust was awarded a cooperative agreement from the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) as part of the Exemplar HIE Governance Program, funding for which will be used to extend and expand DirectTrust accreditation and governance activity in support of Direct exchange for Stage 2 Meaningful Use.  For more information, please visit www.DirectTrust.org.

About Surescripts
The Surescripts network supports the most comprehensive ecosystem of healthcare organizations nationwide. Pharmacies, payers, pharmacy benefit managers, physicians, hospitals, health information exchanges and health technology firms rely on Surescripts to more easily and securely share health information.  Guided by the principles of neutrality, transparency, physician and patient choice, open standards, collaboration and privacy, Surescripts operates the nation's largest health information network.  By providing information for routine, recurring and emergency care, Surescripts is committed to saving lives, improving efficiency and reducing the cost of health care for all.  For more information, go to www.surescripts.com and follow us at twitter.com/surescripts.

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Media Contact:
Kelly Newton
Surescripts
571-384-4776
kelly.newton@surescripts.com