Surescripts 2024 Annual Impact Report Highlights Surge in Health Intelligence Sharing, Enhancing Care Quality & Access
Surescripts, the nation’s leading health information network, has released its highly anticipated 2024 Annual Impact Report, underscoring the transformative advancements in health intelligence sharing. The report provides valuable insights into how the healthcare industry is leveraging real-time data exchange to improve medication safety, enhance care coordination, lower prescription costs, and drive greater efficiency across the healthcare ecosystem.
A Year of Meaningful Innovation and Collaboration
“Innovating for impact is what drives everything we do at Surescripts—to benefit patients and the people who care for them,” said Frank Harvey, Chief Executive Officer of Surescripts. “In 2024, we focused on collaborating to advance interoperability and scale systemic innovations that are enhancing patient safety, lowering costs, and improving care quality. This report shows much more than data; it emphasizes the incredible opportunity we have to continue this work alongside our network alliance partners toward our shared purpose of making healthcare better for both care providers and the patients in their care.”
Expanding Access to Affordable Medications
One of the most significant highlights from the report is the continued growth of Real-Time Prescription Benefit, which empowers prescribers with instant access to pricing information and available cost-saving alternatives. This tool has proven instrumental in lowering out-of-pocket costs for patients, ensuring they receive necessary medications without financial hardship.
“Our reporting shows that again this year, more prescribers are using Real-Time Prescription Benefit to help lower prescription costs for patients,” said Dr. Andrew Mellin, Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer at Surescripts. “Building on this momentum, we continue to innovate for impact with Surescripts Touchless Prior Authorization, which streamlines the traditionally burdensome prior authorization process, reducing approval times from days or even weeks to mere seconds.”
Key Takeaways from the 2024 Annual Impact Report
Surescripts’ ongoing efforts to refine and expand health intelligence sharing capabilities have led to remarkable achievements across multiple areas of healthcare technology. Below are some of the most impactful statistics from this year’s report:
- 27.2 billion exchanges of patient clinical and benefit information took place in 2024, marking a 14.2% increase from the previous year.
- 2.29 million healthcare professionals and organizations connected to the Surescripts network, accessing crucial clinical and benefit data for virtually every insured American.
- 2.6 billion electronic prescriptions were processed, helping patients receive their medications more quickly and safely than ever before.
- Nearly 900,000 prescribers utilized Real-Time Prescription Benefit, leading to significant cost savings for patients:
- An average savings of $82 per prescription.
- More than $1,000 saved per specialty medication.
- Touchless Prior Authorization transformed the prior authorization process, reducing approval times from more than one hour to just 34 seconds. This innovation ensures that patients receive their medications without unnecessary delays, improving adherence and overall health outcomes.
A Closer Look at Touchless Prior Authorization
Prior authorizations have long been a major pain point for both patients and healthcare providers, often leading to treatment delays and increased administrative burden. Surescripts’ Touchless Prior Authorization solution has revolutionized this process by automating approvals, eliminating tedious manual work, and significantly reducing the time required for approval.
By integrating this technology into clinical workflows, prescribers can now secure approval for necessary medications before a patient even leaves their office. This shift enhances patient experience, improves medication adherence, and helps reduce the number of prescriptions that go unfilled due to complex prior authorization requirements.
Strengthening Medication Adherence Through Innovation
Medication adherence remains a critical component of effective healthcare. Non-adherence is associated with increased hospitalizations, worsening health conditions, and higher overall healthcare costs. Surescripts’ latest advancements in health intelligence sharing help address these challenges by ensuring that prescribers, pharmacists, and patients have real-time access to medication pricing, benefit information, and adherence support tools.
The Real-Time Prescription Benefit tool continues to be a game-changer by providing immediate cost comparisons, allowing prescribers to select the most affordable and accessible medications for their patients. This tool not only improves adherence rates but also fosters greater trust between patients and healthcare providers by reducing unexpected pharmacy costs.
Enhancing Interoperability for a More Connected Healthcare System
Surescripts has been at the forefront of advancing interoperability—ensuring seamless data exchange across various healthcare systems. In 2024, the company made significant strides in enhancing the connectivity between electronic health records (EHRs), pharmacies, payers, and healthcare providers. This has led to a more cohesive network where information flows efficiently, reducing redundancies and administrative burdens.
Some key interoperability milestones include:
- Expansion of clinical data sharing to improve care coordination and enable more informed decision-making at the point of care.
- Enhanced EHR integrations that allow prescribers to access real-time medication history, benefit details, and prior authorization status within their existing workflows.
- Continued investment in AI-driven automation to support faster data processing and decision-making.
The Future of Health Intelligence Sharing
As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, Surescripts remains committed to driving innovation that supports providers, payers, and patients alike. Looking ahead, the company aims to further expand its suite of health intelligence solutions, incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enhance decision support, streamline workflows, and deliver even greater efficiencies.
With healthcare costs rising and the demand for timely, high-quality care increasing, the importance of solutions like Real-Time Prescription Benefit and Touchless Prior Authorization cannot be overstated. Surescripts is poised to play a crucial role in shaping the future of healthcare technology by enabling more intelligent, data-driven decision-making.
