Surescripts and NextGen Healthcare take important step to improve quality of care collaboration and coordination across the U.S. Healthcare System

SURESCRIPTS AND NEXTGEN HEALTHCARE TAKE IMPORTANT STEP TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF CARE COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION ACROSS THE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

NextGen Healthcare to Connect to The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability to Enable Healthcare Providers to Share Clinical Health Information Among Care Providers and Organizations Across Institutional Boundaries

ARLINGTON, Va. and HORSHAM, Pa. - November 14, 2012 - Surescripts and NextGen Healthcare, a leading electronic health records (EHR) provider to the ambulatory and inpatient healthcare markets, today announced that NextGen Healthcare will connect to The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability™.  This connectivity will enable NextGen Healthcare users-approximately 75,000 clinicians-to reliably and securely send and receive vital clinical information across physician practices, hospitals, health centers and other healthcare entities nationwide, thereby improving communication.

"Every day, critical clinical information is kept from where it needs to go by technical barriers to clear channels of communication. These obstacles produce an incomplete view of patient records, create the potential for risk to patient health, and increase the cost of healthcare," said Harry Totonis, president and CEO of Surescripts. "With our relationship with NextGen, we are continuing to make headway in improving the efficient coordination of patient care throughout the United States.  Now, NextGen users have a tangible, real-time solution to their connectivity challenges via the Surescripts network. Surescripts has led the way in e-prescribing, and now we are delivering broad expanded connectivity and clinical messaging platforms that enable diverse parties to work together to enable better care."

"Surescripts understands the challenges we face as an EHR vendor and is providing us with a scalable, flexible and enduring solution that will position us for future growth," said Ike Ellison, executive vice president of business development for NextGen Healthcare. "By using the Surescripts network, our customers can improve the care they provide to their patients because they can more easily share important health information with peers."

NextGen Healthcare clinicians will be able to seamlessly share vital clinical care information via an integrated messaging and collaboration platform powered by The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability. NextGen Healthcare joins other world-class EHR vendors currently connecting to The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability, enabling more than 300,000 care providers in acute and ambulatory settings across the United States.

Clinical interoperability, viewed by experts as the next critical step in accelerating the digital transformation of the nation's healthcare system, makes it possible for a patient's healthcare providers to electronically share with one another, in a secure and confidential environment, that patient's health information and clinical messages while providing care. With clinical interoperability, treating practitioners can have a more complete view of a patient's status and the care being rendered, and can more easily collaborate and coordinate that patient's care with the patient's other enabled healthcare providers. 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, and advancing the patient-centered medical home model of care, as well as in accountable care, which is characterized by the ability to move information between systems.

Advantages of The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability
The Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability is currently being used by the nation's leading health systems and other providers nationwide.  In addition, Surescripts, through the Lab Interoperability Cooperative, is enabling over 650 hospital labs to connect to public health agencies. The Lab Interoperability Cooperative is funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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 Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability 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 NextGen Healthcare
NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc., provides integrated clinical, financial and connectivity solutions for ambulatory, inpatient and dental provider organizations. For more information, please visit www.nextgen.com and www.qsii.com. Follow NextGen Healthcare on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nextgen, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NextGenHealthcare or LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/nextgen-healthcare-information-systems.

#  #  #

Media Contacts:

Elizabeth Hutter
WCG for Surescripts
212-259-0490
ehutter@wcgworld.com

Michelle Rovner
NextGen Healthcare
215-657-7010
mrovner@nextgen.com