A new messaging system, built on the Surescripts Network for Clinical Interoperability, was launched Tuesday by the American Academy of Family Physicians to provide doctors around the country with a way to securely communicate with each other.

The service is called AAFP Physicians Direct and is part of a larger program to help physicians more easily and securely share information such as referrals, patient summaries, discharge summaries and lab results when providing their patients' care.

[See also: ONC launches Direct Project with pilots in Minn., R.I..]

The Direct Project is the protocol that the new network operates on, officials said.

The new service will make the nation's leading health information network available to nearly 75,000 family physicians across the United States.

"We are proud to empower physicians with a digital tool that will make their practice run more efficiently while improving the overall quality of care they provide," said Glen Stream, MD, MBI, president-elect of the AAFP.

He added that "AAFP Physicians Direct will enhance communication among healthcare providers, and patients likely will experience more seamless coordination and continuity of care. Patients will benefit, and that's always a 'win.'"

AAFP physicians will be able to connect to the Surescripts network and share information securely through the new AAFP Physicians Direct Web portal or a choice of electronic health record systems.

"The AAFP has long played a leading role in advancing the adoption and use of health IT," said Harry Totonis, president and CEO of Surescripts. "Today they demonstrate their leadership once more. Working together, AAFP will leverage the Surescrips network to provide an easy-to-use, cost effective means of enabling the nation's family doctors to connect and share information like never before. AAFP's new services – available to physicians and other healthcare providers serving large and small communities throughout the United States – help ensure that everyone can take part and benefit from the digital transformation of the nation's healthcare system."

Amazing Charts, e-MDs and SOAPware also announced Tuesday that they will connect their EHR systems to the Surescripts network and collaborate in the Physicians Direct program.

With this new service, AAFP will leverage the Surescripts network to provide electronic clinical interoperability among providers, allowing them to break down communication barriers due to incompatible technology and a lack of interoperability standards.

[See also: Surescripts goes beyond eRx to share clinical health information.]

The advance of clinical interoperability plays a central role in a number of important national healthcare initiatives: improving continuity of care, supporting the "meaningful use" of electronic health records and advancing the patient-centered medical home model of care.

"I commend the AAFP for its inspired leadership in helping to create the standard protocols and message types for clinical exchange," said Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, deputy national coordinator for programs and policy at ONC. "AAFP Physicians Direct is a health IT innovation that will help providers achieve meaningful use and support continuity of care, which will reduce costs and medical errors."

The AAFP, Surescripts and many other organizations have collaborated with the federal government to create the standard protocols to make this type of electronic clinical communication possible.

AAFP Physicians Direct will support all federal and state policies and standards for health information exchange, including privacy and security standards (such as HIPAA and state law), as well as technology interoperability standards and message types such as HL7, CCR and CCD. Use of standard protocols will allow AAFP physicians to communicate via the Surescripts network with any other physicians, whether they connect via an EHR, through a health information exchange or large hospital system, through a portal, or physicians using the new Direct Project protocols for clinical exchange.

Click on the next page to read how providers can connect.