Surescripts and health IT company Epic are working together to connect Epic’s Care Everywhere interoperability platform to the Surescripts Clinical Interoperability Network. 

The connectivity will allow healthcare providers that use Epic’s EHR to securely send and receive clinical information, including referrals, discharge summaries and lab results, with peers locally, between practices and across health systems, Surecripts executives announced today.

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“Surescripts continues to be committed to enhancing our network, expanding our capabilities and enabling the flow of new types of health information to advance connectivity and enable diverse parties to work together, said Harry Totonis, president and CEO of Surescripts. “With our Clinical Interoperability Network, we are building on our success in e-prescribing to help deliver access to clinical information when and where it’s needed.”

”By working with Epic to connect to our Clinical Interoperability Network, we will enable broader health information sharing between thousands more care providers nationwide,” he added. “Our goal is to connect the entire U.S. healthcare system to support improvements in care, safety, cost and health outcomes.”

“Clinical interoperability – defined as a healthcare provider's ability to electronically share a patient’s health information – is viewed by experts as the next critical step to accelerate the digital transformation of the nation's healthcare system,” he added. “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 electronic health records, and advancing the patient-centered medical home model of care as well as accountable care.”

Epic’s EHR is used by some of the largest hospitals and physician groups across the country. By the year 2013, medical information for 150 million patients, representing nearly 44 percent of the U.S. population, will be stored in an Epic digital record, according to Surescripts executives.

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Through the collaboration, Epic clinicians will be able to seamlessly share health information with peers through a fast, secure messaging service, Totonis said. The service, powered by the Surescripts Clinical Interoperability Network, will allow patient-specific information to be instantaneously transmitted to other healthcare providers across all technology platforms.