Opting Out of Surescripts – Frequently Asked Questions

The two Network solutions where individuals can opt-out of Network Participants sharing your information are:

• Medication History, and/or
• Record Locator and Exchange.

Please complete and have notarized the attached Surescripts Request and Authorization Form if you would like to opt-out and disable the above noted services so your treating providers (prescribers) do not receive your medication history, benefits, eligibility, and formulary information any longer.  Return the form and any applicable supporting documentation to Surescripts’ Support at 2550 South Clark Street, Suite 1000, Arlington, VA 22202.  Once the opt out has been processed, we will follow up with confirmation directed to the Requestor as provided in Section 4 on the form within 10 business days of receipt.

Surescripts does not have direct relationships or interactions with patients. We require completion of this document to verify the identity and authority of an individual requesting access and appropriately locate and identify you within our system for an accurate opt-out.

Surescripts operates a Health Information Network where Network Participants participate for e-prescribing and related services that facilitate e-prescribing, like Medication History and Record Locator and Exchange.

Surescripts Medication History equips healthcare providers who care for patients with access to a patient's medication history across providers, as part of the medication reconciliation process at the point of care.

Network Participants are healthcare providers, pharmacies, technology companies such as Electronic Health Records vendors (EHRs), pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and health plans.

Network Participants and Surescripts are designated as Covered Entities or Business Associates under the federal privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), and must comply with its confidentiality, privacy, security, and breach notification obligations when sharing your protected health information (PHI) as defined by HIPAA.

Surescripts provides the connectivity services for Network Participants to share information for providing care to patients.  Your treating provider can make a more informed prescription decision by querying health plans through the health plans’ PBMs for available medication history, benefits, eligibility, and formulary information.  Also, some pharmacies participate in providing medication history to providers at the provider’s request.

Opting out of the Medication History and/or Record Locator and Exchange services renders your information undiscoverable to future requests on the network for your medication history and/or locating records. Opting out will not remove the information that must be retained for audit and record retention purposes or that was already provided in response to previous requests (as we have no way of deleting information that was already sent).

Yes. After opting out, providers will continue to be able to electronically send prescriptions.  Opting out means information we maintain will no longer be accessible through requests made for Medication History and Record Locator and Exchange on the Surescripts Network.

Yes, contact Surescripts’ Opt-Out team at optout@surescripts.com if you would like to opt back in.

Consent requirements are the Network Participants’ obligation, as Surescripts provides the connectivity services for Network Participants.  Specific questions regarding consent or HIPAA authorizations should be directed to those organizations where you have a relationship.  That being said, we understand the importance of respecting the privacy and confidentiality of PHI.  In performance of our Network services, we contractually require Network Participants to comply with all applicable state and federal consent laws, including HIPAA.  Surescripts also makes assurances in a Business Associate Agreement with Network Participants to comply with such laws applicable to our Network services. Prior to electronically accessing or disclosing (sharing) any PHI, we require that our Network Participants obtain all necessary patient consents for treatment purposes.

Please refer to your Covered Entities (healthcare provider, health plan, and/or pharmacies) for a copy of your medical records, to access or amend information, and/or for an accounting of disclosures.  Surescripts is not a Covered Entity of any type under HIPAA and does not maintain designated record sets of pharmacy, medical or other healthcare data.  Surescripts is a Business Associate that provides electronic data transmission services on behalf of our Network Participants. Once we receive verification of your identity, we may assist in locating your data sources (pharmacies and PBMs) on the Surescripts network.

Surescripts also explains how it handles personal information in its Privacy Policy.  And, if you have any further questions or concerns, please let us know.