Surescripts, a developer of health information networks, has announced it will give electronic health record (EHR) vendors access to its National Record Locator Service (NRLS) until 2019, increasing interoperability.

EHR vendors including Aprima, eClinicalWorks, Epic, Greenway Health and NextGen Healthcare are among the first to offer NRLS to its users. With 140 million patients and more than two billion interactions, NRLS is a hub of information that could be useful for the vendors.  Using NRLS, healthcare providers will have access to a complete list of patients' data, no matter where they received care or what EHR system the information was entered in.

“Surescripts is proud to take a leading role in this landmark effort to scale interoperability nationwide by leveraging our innovative network capabilities and data assets, because we recognize the urgent need to enhance patient safety and care quality,” said Tom Skelton, CEO of Surescripts. “We are committed to working with all vendors to accelerate the adoption of record locator and exchange, while adding valuable new services to make meaningful health information available to providers.”

The NRLS allows information to be exchanged in a secure setting while reaching multiple locations simultaneously. The interoperability offered by these systems helps in offering low cost care at a faster rate more efficiently to a wider range on patients.

“We hear from clinicians every day who complain that the data they need to deliver quality care to patients is trapped in manual systems,” said Neil Simon, COO of Aprima. “We are excited to bring these capabilities to life for our providers, so they can focus on what matters most—their patients.”