Dive Brief:
Surescripts’ data exchange has been designated a Qualified Health Information Network under the federal government’s health information sharing framework, the e-prescribing giant said Tuesday.
As a QHIN, Surescripts will be able to transfer health data through the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA, a framework created by the HHS’ Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy to facilitate the exchange of health records among providers, patients, payers and public health agencies.
Surescripts’ addition brings the total number of QHINs to nine, according to the Sequoia Project, the recognized coordinating entity that oversees TEFCA.
Dive Insight:
TEFCA sets technical requirements and exchange policies so the healthcare sector can more easily share patient information. The framework went live in late 2023 with five designated QHINs.
They represent health systems, insurers or health IT vendors and can query and receive information from other networks after they’re accepted, complete onboarding and pass security and technology checks.
“The QHIN designation process is intentionally rigorous to ensure a high bar for the nation’s health information sharing infrastructure,” Mariann Yeager, CEO of the Sequoia Project, said in a Tuesday statement.
Surescripts, which offers products to electronically send prescription information from providers to pharmacies, share medication histories and check patients’ prescription coverage, said it would apply to become a QHIN two years ago.
At the time, the company said more than 250,000 clinicians had used its Record Locator and Exchange to find and share clinical information in 2022. Last year, the tool was used by more than 416,000 providers, according to Surescripts.
Surescripts is one of several new QHINs added since TEFCA became operational. CommonWell Health Alliance and Kno2 received the designation in early 2024, and eClinicalWorks, an ambulatory electronic health record vendor, became a QHIN in January.
Oracle Health, which acquired EHR company Cerner in 2022, also said it would apply to become a QHIN last fall.
Surescripts’ acceptance as a QHIN comes months after private equity firm TPG Capital bought a majority stake in the e-prescribing company. Its other investors, CVS Health, Cigna-owned pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts and two pharmacist trade groups, retain a minority interest.
