Surescripts
Surescripts is the dominant e-prescribing network in the United States, connecting prescriber software to pharmacies so that electronic prescriptions, refill requests, and medication histories travel as standardized NCPDP SCRIPT messages — the rails almost every telehealth prescription rides from the clinician’s signature to the pharmacy’s queue.
- The main US e-prescribing network
- Carries NCPDP SCRIPT messages between prescribers and pharmacies
- Access via certified e-prescribing software, not directly
- Fulfillment status comes from the pharmacy, not the network
What travels over the network
- New prescriptions from the prescriber to the patient’s chosen pharmacy
- Refill and renewal requests from the pharmacy back to the prescriber
- Cancel and change messages when a prescription is adjusted
- Medication history for a patient, with consent, to support reconciliation
- Controlled-substance prescriptions, which additionally require EPCS-certified software
Why it matters when building a telehealth platform
You do not connect to Surescripts directly; certified e-prescribing software does, and that certification is a meaningful project on its own. Infrastructure vendors carry it so that a brand never has to. What the brand needs to understand is the shape of the flow: the prescription leaves as a SCRIPT message, the pharmacy acknowledges it, and any status after that comes from the pharmacy — which is why fulfillment tracking is a separate integration from prescribing.
Compliance handled, so you can build
Lithos runs the clinicians, pharmacies, and 50-state rules behind your care program — one API.
Frequently asked questions
Does a telehealth brand need a Surescripts integration?
No. The e-prescribing software the clinicians use is certified on the network. A brand building on infrastructure inherits that; what it integrates is the infrastructure’s API and webhooks.
Are compounded medications sent through Surescripts?
Compounded prescriptions can be transmitted electronically to compounding pharmacies that accept them, though many programs use direct pharmacy integrations for compounded medications because of the custom sig and formulation fields involved.