Surescripts and NewCrop to Expand Care Collaboration and Coordination Across the U.S Healthcare System

SURESCRIPTS AND NEWCROP TO EXPAND CARE COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION ACROSS THE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

NewCrop to Connect to The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability, Enabling 30,000 Physicians Using 200 Different Electronic Health Record Vendors to Exchange Health Information

ARLINGTON, Va. and HOUSTON - March 4, 2013 - Surescripts and NewCrop, LLC, a leading provider of technology relied on by more than 130 electronic health record (EHR) technology providers and 30,000 healthcare professionals, today announced that NewCrop will connect to The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability™. This connectivity will enable physicians using EHRs with NewCrop technology to reliably and securely exchange clinical information across practices, hospitals and other healthcare entities nationwide. NewCrop serves small physician practices, primarily focused on family practice and the specialties of ophthalmology and cardiology, and  concentrated regionally in New York, California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Georgia and Missouri. NewCrop joins Epic, GE, Medent, NextGen and others as EHR technology providers that have connected to The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability to enable more than 300,000 care providers in acute and ambulatory settings across the United States.

The advance of clinical interoperability plays a central role in a number of important national healthcare initiatives, including improving continuity of care, supporting the "Meaningful Use" of EHRs, advancing the patient-centered medical home model of care, and supporting accountable care organizations (ACOs). The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability is aligned with supporting Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements and supports all Direct protocols. Additionally, the Surescripts network offers the broadest reach to connect with care providers and affiliates both inside and outside of a health system, regardless of EHR system or electronic connectivity and across any number of care settings. This expanded reach helps enhance referrals, discharges and other key workflows with providers outside of a health system. 

"Every day, physicians caring for the same patient are prevented from sharing important clinical information," said Harry Totonis, president and CEO of Surescripts. "These technical barriers prevent care coordination, and can result in an incomplete view of the patient's health and an increase in the cost of caring for that patient. Our relationship with NewCrop will give many more doctors-including many in smaller practices--a tangible, real-time solution to their connectivity challenges and further improve coordination of patient care throughout the nation."  

"NewCrop was founded more than  10 years ago with the goal of providing comprehensive  e-prescribing services to  EHR vendors of all sizes - and Surescripts continues to play a critical role in helping us meet that objective with its retail pharmacy network and pharmacy benefit manager service," said Craig Wagener, co-founder and CIO of NewCrop. "With recent changes in healthcare, we assessed how we could better serve our growing base of healthcare professionals and EHR vendors. We looked at a number of options in the market and selected The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability because of its rich functionality, which will allow the care providers who rely on our EHR vendors to gain immediate access to secure provider-to-provider collaboration and state immunization registries. By working with Surescripts we can help improve healthcare collaboration and patient outcomes."

The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability allows clinical care information, including clinical messages, immunization summaries, CCDs, referrals, discharge summaries and lab results, to be transmitted between peers, practices and health systems locally and nationally across all technology platforms. The network supports 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).

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.


About NewCrop
NewCrop LLC provides electronic prescribing systems, delivered over the Internet and designed for incorporation into electronic medical records. All features are available as a comprehensive user interface or, via data services, as individual components. EPCS is available, as well as all interconnectivity requirements for Meaningful Use Stage 2. To learn more about NewCrop, please visit www.newcroprx.com.

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Media Contact:
Rob Cronin
WCG for Surescripts
917-414-5289
rcronin@wcgworld.com