Surescripts Connects with HealthVault to Let Patients Access Medication History

Alexandria, Va.-based Surescripts, the largest e-prescription provider, announced the launch of its new service medication history for personal health records (PHRs) that will allow consumers that use Redmond, Wash.- based Microsoft HealthVault to request and receive records of their dispensed medications from community pharmacies using Surescripts’ secure electronic connection to HealthVault.

Users will be prompted to log into their HealthVault account from the websites of participating community pharmacies and request that their medication history be downloaded into their HealthVault account. An extensive identity proofing process is incorporated as part of this initial request to protect privacy. Upon successful completion of this process, medication history can be updated any time there are new prescriptions dispensed from a participating pharmacy without further action by the HealthVault user. Updates to medication history will be made daily, allowing users to keep their records as current as possible.

Providing consumers with the opportunity to create or supplement their own record of medication history using information provided by pharmacies empowers them to take a more active role in their care. And, when shared with their various healthcare providers, this information promotes more complete drug-to-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks, which supports improvement in the safety and quality of the prescribing process.

Surescripts’ Medication History for PHRs service also provides a significant benefit to pharmacies. By using their existing connection to the Surescripts network to deliver this information to their customers, pharmacies avoid the added expense and complexity of developing and maintaining direct, individual connections with personal health record services.