Surescripts Connects Nearly 1,000 Hospitals, Drives Interoperability and Health Information Exchange Nationwide

ARLINGTON, Va. – September 23, 2014 – Surescripts, the nation's largest health information network, is experiencing considerable growth in the adoption of broad health information exchange in 2014.  With the addition of nearly 100 major health systems to the Surescripts network this year, Surescripts clinical messaging capabilities are now utilized by more than 2,000 provider organizations, including 130 health systems representing 971 hospitals and more than 18 percent of all staffed beds¹ in the country, as well as 23 health information exchanges (HIEs) and health information service providers (HISPs). 

“There is no question that healthcare is going digital – the progress we’ve made is proof that providers across the country are sharing critical information to coordinate patient care,” said Tom Skelton, Chief Executive Officer, Surescripts. “With proven network technology and established relationships across the healthcare economy, Surescripts is uniquely positioned to unleash the full potential of American healthcare to improve quality while saving precious time and resources.”

By connecting to the Surescripts network, thousands of healthcare providers nationwide, including many of the country’s leading large, academic health systems, are able to send and receive authenticated, encrypted health information directly between trusted recipients at other healthcare organizations.  The following organizations are among those that have connected to Surescripts this year:

• Buffalo Medical Group in Buffalo, New York includes a primary care division with more than 33 family medicine and internal medicine physicians, and a specialty care division of over 83 physicians in 25 medical specialty and subspecialty sections.
• Geisinger Health System is an integrated health services organization that serves more than 2.6 million residents throughout 44 counties in central and northeastern Pennsylvania.
• MaineHealth is a not-for-profit family of leading high-quality providers and 15 other healthcare organizations in the state of Maine that has been ranked among the nation's top 100 integrated healthcare delivery networks.
• Mount Sinai Health System combines the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and seven hospital campuses to provide the highest quality health care throughout the New York metropolitan area. Mount Sinai includes approximately 6,600 primary and specialty care physicians, 12‐minority‐owned free‐standing ambulatory surgery centers, over 45 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island, as well as 31 affiliated community health centers.
• St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center is a non-profit, 431-bed hospital and health care system in Syracuse, New York, providing services to patients in 16 counties in Central New York State. 
• Texas Health Resources includes 25 hospitals in Texas with more than 3,800 licensed beds, more than 21,100 employees of fully-owned/operated facilities plus 1,400 employees of consolidated joint ventures, and counts more than 5,500 physicians with active staff privileges at its hospitals.
• University of Rochester Medical Center is a three hospital, regional, tertiary care system centered in Rochester, New York consisting of 1100 beds and a 200 site, multi-specialty, ambulatory practice. 
• UW Medicine, Valley Medical Center is the largest nonprofit healthcare provider between Seattle and Tacoma in Washington State, serving over 600,000 residents. In addition to the hospital, the Medical Center operates a network of more than two dozen primary care, urgent care and specialty clinics throughout Southeast King County.
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee is a comprehensive healthcare facility dedicated to patient care, research, and biomedical education. In 2014 it was named among the Nation’s 100 “Most Wired” hospitals for its EHR by the American Hospital Association for the tenth year in a row.

“Connecting to the Surescripts network reinforces our commitment to provide our patients the best care possible,” said Robert Molina, MD, Chief Medical Informatics Officer of Valley Medical Center. “The ability to communicate easily and efficiently with our care partners ensures that all of our physicians and health care providers will be armed with the right information at the right time to make informed and collaborative care decisions.”

Surescripts’ clinical messaging service provides hospitals and health systems with Direct secure messaging, connectivity to the Surescripts network, and health information service provider (HISP) capabilities that improve care coordination and increase workflow efficiency.  Clinical messaging services include Direct addresses, Direct domains and digital certificates, and help providers meet the Meaningful Use Stage 2 Transitions of Care objective. Through a single point of connectivity to a broad reach of community partners, clinicians also gain access to the providers reachable through Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program (DTAAP) certified connections as defined by DirectTrust.org, as well as other Health Information Exchanges and HISPs.

¹ Staffed beds are licensed and physically available with staff on hand to attend to the patient who occupies the bed. Staffed beds include those that are occupied and those that are vacant.