Surescripts Response to COVID-19 

The World Health Organization has classified COVID-19 as an official pandemic and the United States has declared it a National Emergency. At Surescripts, we are actively monitoring the COVID-19 situation and are taking every precaution to protect the health and welfare of the Surescripts team and keep the network fully operational to support the many medical professionals who are on the frontlines of this crisis

Our thoughts are with those who are sick, and all the individuals impacted by the outbreak – from individuals mourning their loved ones, to families juggling unexpected school closings, to care providers dealing with the strain on our healthcare system. 

Thank you for your continued support and communication as we monitor and respond to COVID-19. We will continue to share updates below as the situation evolves.

March 17, 2020

Below are the steps we are taking to protect our employees and ensure that our network remains fully operational:

  • COVID-19 Task Force: We have assembled a high-priority COVID-19 task force, including a number of experienced clinicians, to ensure we take a holistic approach and implement best practices, when possible, as the situation evolves. Our COVID-19 task force is continually monitoring developments from the CDC and other federal and state agencies.
  • Business Continuity Plans: Surescripts has a fully documented business continuity plan that is regularly tested as part of our HITRUST certification. We are conducting an evaluation of our business continuity plan to update it in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. The CDC “Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to COVID-19” is guiding this work.
  • Travel: We have instituted new travel and meeting policies to ensure flexibility, limit travel to essential business only, and leverage video and tele-conferencing to facilitate virtual meetings where feasible. We are also providing employees with information and resources shared by the government, and we will continue to provide them with regular communication and updates as the situation evolves.
  • Work from Home: While some of our employees already work remotely on a regular basis, we recently asked all of our employees to do so, in an effort to test our resources and infrastructure. We are now encouraging all employees to work remotely until May 4.
  • Regular Employee Communications: We are communicating with our employees regularly about how they can protect themselves and their families and continue to operate the network.
  • Events & Conferences: Surescripts participates in many large events and meetings, but preventing community spread is an important part of limiting the virus. Beginning on March 2, we asked our employees to avoid any event with more than 25 people in attendance. We are evaluating all internal and external events on a rolling basis and will adjust our planned activities as needed. In many cases, we are shifting to virtual events.. Please check our events page for updates on our event plans.


March 16, 2020

As a reminder, our emergency response action plans are available online. They provide guidance to our pharmacy vendors, pharmacy systems, EHR vendors, health technology vendors and health systems to take the necessary steps to help ensure our pharmacy directory is updated with current information regarding pharmacy closures and is available to providers who need to treat patients.

Many of our services can assist front-line care providers who may be facing an increased volume of patients requiring critical care. Providers are encouraged to make use of the following tools:

Medication History for Reconciliation aggregates and delivers accurate dispensed medication histories for patients being seen in acute, post-acute and long-term care settings. This data aids efficient medication reconciliation and helps reduce adverse drug events and associated readmissions.

Electronic Prescribing gives healthcare professionals in all care settings, including long-term and post-acute care and telemedicine, safer and more efficient prescribing, which increases medication adherence, improves efficiency, and enhances patient safety.

Real-Time Prescription Benefit delivers patient-specific drug benefit and cost information to the e-prescribing workflow at the point of care. Combined with Electronic Prior Authorization, this solution lets prescribers make medication decisions with full price transparency and seamlessly complete the prescribing process within their EHR.

Clinical Direct Messaging connects clinicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals with secure, HIPAA-compliant exchange of protected health information to improve transitions of care, send immunization notifications, and coordinate medication management.

Record Locator & Exchange lets healthcare providers, including clinicians in pharmacies, quickly see where patients have received care and locates medical records from across all 50 states, regardless of care setting and EHR.


March 9, 2020

The following message was sent to all participants in the Surescripts Network Alliance:

Valued Customer,

As a nationwide health information network that handles health information that is critical to patient care, it’s important that we maintain extremely high levels of reliability. We take seriously our role in helping medical professionals better serve patients, as we continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and any potential risk it may have for the Surescripts network. Below is an update on our actions to-date.

Business Continuity Plan

Surescripts has a fully documented business continuity plan that is regularly tested as part of our HITRUST certification. Surescripts has also assembled a high-priority COVID-19 task force to ensure we take a holistic approach and implement best practices, when possible, as the situation evolves. Our COVID-19 task force is continually monitoring developments from the CDC and other federal and state agencies. We are evaluating our business continuity plan and will modify it as needed, in light of the COVID-19 situation. The CDC “Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to COVID-19” is guiding our response as we continue to monitor the situation.

Travel & Meetings

The health and safety of our employees is a top priority, as we continue to support our customers’ business needs. We have instituted new travel and meeting policies to ensure flexibility, limit travel to essential business only, and leverage video and tele-conferencing to facilitate virtual meetings where feasible. We are also providing employees with information and resources shared by the government, and we will continue to provide them with regular communication and updates as the situation evolves.

Emergency Response Action Plans

As a reminder, our emergency response action plans are available online. They provide guidance to our pharmacy vendors, pharmacy systems, EHR vendors, health technology vendors and health systems to take the necessary steps to help ensure our pharmacy directory is updated with current information regarding pharmacy closures and is available to providers who need to treat patients.

Thank you for your continued support and communication regarding our respective action plans as we monitor and respond to COVID-19. We will continue to share updates as the situation evolves.

If you have any questions, please contact your Account Manager.

Thank you,

Tom Skelton, Chief Executive Officer

March 3, 2020

Statement Regarding COVID-19

Surescripts is actively monitoring the COVID-19 situation and any potential risk it may have for the Surescripts network.

As a nationwide health information network that handles health information that is critical to patient care, it’s important that we maintain extremely high levels of reliability. We take seriously our role in helping medical professionals better serve patients, and we are in regular communication with our customers regarding our respective action plans to monitor and respond to COVID-19.

Surescripts has a fully documented business continuity plan that is regularly tested as part of our HITRUST certification. Surescripts has also assembled a high-priority COVID-19 task force to ensure we take a holistic approach and implement best practices, when possible, as the situation evolves. Our COVID-19 task force is continually monitoring developments from the CDC and other federal and state agencies. We are evaluating our business continuity plan and will modify it as needed, in light of the COVID-19 situation. The CDC “Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to COVID-19” is guiding our response as we continue to monitor the situation.

The health and safety of our employees is a top priority, as we continue to support our customers’ business needs. We are working with our employees to ensure flexibility in their travel needs, and as always, leveraging video and tele-conferencing to facilitate meetings where feasible. We are also providing employees with information and resources shared by the government, and we will continue to provide them with regular communication and updates as the situation evolves.

Pharmacy vendors/pharmacy systems and EHR/Health Technology Vendors are encouraged to take the necessary steps outlined in our emergency response action plans to help ensure our Pharmacy Directory is updated with current information regarding pharmacy closures and is available to providers who need to treat patients.