Surescripts National Record Locator Service Gives More Than 40 Health Systems the Ability to Locate and Share Records for Nearly the Entire U.S. Population

ARLINGTON, Va. – July 24, 2017 – Surescripts continues to rapidly expand nationwide healthcare interoperability by adding 14 new health systems to its National Record Locator Service (NRLS), including Allegheny Health Network (Pennsylvania), The Institute for Family Health (New York), JPS Health Network (Texas), Metro Health-University of Michigan Health, St. Luke’s Health System (Idaho) and WakeMed Health & Hospitals (North Carolina). These are among the 28 health systems that now have easy access to nationwide clinical records for 230 million patients representing more than four billion potential patient visits—20 times more than any other record locator service. An additional 13 health systems are currently in the NRLS deployment pipeline, for a total of 41 that are using or will be going live with this valuable service.

NRLS allows clinicians to see where patients previously received care and quickly retrieve information from those visits within their existing electronic health record (EHR) workflow. Since its introduction in April 2015, NRLS has experienced rapid growth and now covers nearly the entire U.S. population, a distinction that puts it far ahead of similar technologies. As part of Surescripts’ commitment to further accelerate interoperability, it has partnered with leading EHR vendors, including eClinicalWorks, Epic, and NextGen Healthcare, all of which have already implemented NRLS, as well as Aprima Medical Software.

“In today’s fragmented healthcare environment, health systems need an easy way to securely exchange patient information,” said Tom Skelton, Chief Executive Officer of Surescripts. “We are thrilled to help 14 more health systems access important patient care information to increase patient safety, lower costs and ensure quality care.”

Backed by the mature Surescripts network and operating within the nationwide Carequality Interoperability Framework that leverages a common set of legal, technical and policy rules for data sharing, NRLS helps providers improve care coordination and decrease diagnostic errors by allowing clinicians to identify and share nationwide clinical records across locations, settings, networks and technology platforms.

As noted in the recent Surescripts white paper, “All Healthcare Is Not Local: The Human Cost of Disparate Health Data,” a lack of data hinders care coordination and creates the risk of costly duplication of care, estimated at $148–$226 billion annually. A lack of access to data can also lead to incorrect diagnosis or treatment, resulting in serious harm to patients or even death. A study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that 59 percent of diagnostic errors harmed patients. Of those errors, 59 percent caused serious harm, and 30 percent resulted in death.

NRLS now reaches patients in all 50 states and is already live or set to launch in 12 major metropolitan areas, including: Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas/Fort Worth; Los Angeles; New York; Pittsburgh; San Francisco; St. Louis and Portland, Oregon. The newest health systems include the following, among others:

• Allegheny Health Network, based in Pittsburgh, is an academic healthcare system composed of eight hospitals, including Allegheny General, Allegheny Valley, Canonsburg, Forbes, Jefferson, Saint Vincent and West Penn in western Pennsylvania, and Westfield Memorial in New York. It includes more than 250 primary and specialty care practice locations, four Health + Wellness Pavilions, home and community-based health services, more than 2,800 employed and affiliated physicians in every clinical specialty, and 17,000 employees.
• The Institute for Family Health is one of New York’s largest community health centers, providing 593,000 visits to more than 102,000 patients annually at 30 locations. The Institute is committed to high-quality, affordable healthcare, offering primary care, mental health, dental care, social work and many other services to patients of all ages.
• JPS Health Network, based in Fort Worth, Texas, includes an acute-care hospital, more than 40 primary and specialty care health centers—including 20 school-based health centers—and the county’s only psychiatric emergency center and Level 1 trauma center.
• Metro Health-University of Michigan Health includes Metro Health Hospital, a 208-bed general acute-care osteopathic teaching hospital in Wyoming, Michigan, and physician offices and clinics throughout the greater Grand Rapids area.
• St. Luke’s Health System is Idaho's largest and only locally controlled not-for-profit healthcare system. It has more than 14,000 employees and seven hospitals in Boise, Meridian, Twin Falls, Ketchum, Jerome, McCall and Mountain Home, Idaho.
• WakeMed Health & Hospitals, a private, not-for-profit healthcare organization founded and based in Raleigh, North Carolina, is the largest health system in Wake County. The 919-bed system comprises a network of facilities throughout The Triangle area. WakeMed’s team, consisting of nearly 9,000 employees, 1,500 volunteers,1,200 affiliated physicians, and more than 280 physicians employed by WakeMed Physician Practices, uses the most advanced technologies to ensure the finest quality in healthcare and community health.

“Having the opportunity to implement National Record Locator Service will benefit both our patients and providers in accessing the most up-to-date patient information, so timely and accurate diagnosis can be obtained,” said Marc Chasin, M.D., Vice President and Chief Information Officer at St. Luke’s Health System. “This service will allow us to avoid unnecessary costs to the patient and St. Luke’s Health System.”

For more information on NRLS, visit Surescripts and watch our NRLS video. Also, read our new white paper, “All Healthcare Is Not Local: The Human Cost of Disparate Health Data.”