E-Prescribing

10 min

Welcome to the E‑Prescribing home page! Your central resource for onboarding and transacting on the Surescripts network. Electronic prescribing lets prescribers send prescriptions to a patient’s pharmacy, eliminating paper, faxes, and phone calls while connecting nearly every pharmacy and most U.S. prescribers using the NCPDP SCRIPT standard.

Documentation Links

🏥 EHR & Pharmacy Guides

Documentation for prescribing systems, pharmacy systems, and mailboxing workflows.

💊 E-Prescribing Companion GuideE-Prescribing

Upgrade guidance and network‑specific requirements for NCPDP SCRIPT E‑prescribing on Surescripts.

📬 Mailboxing SupplementMailboxing Guide

Configure mailboxing services for message delivery and retrieval.

🐾 E-Prescribing for Veterinarian Medications SupplementE-Prescribing for Veterinarian Medications Supplement

Support veterinary prescribing and medication fulfillment workflows.

💳 PBM & EHR Guide

Documentation supporting medication request transactions between PBMs and prescribing systems.

📄 Medication Request Implementation GuideMedication Request Implementation Guide

Implement medication request and response workflows between PBMs and EHRs.

What You Can Build

Send new prescriptions from a prescriber vendor to any pharmacy on the network

Process renewal requests from pharmacies and respond with approvals or denials

Handle change requests for therapeutic substitutions, prior authorization, and clarifications

Cancel prescriptions that have been sent in error or are no longer needed

Receive fill notifications to confirm a prescription was picked up

Manage controlled substances with EPCS (Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances)

Core Transactions

Transaction	Direction	Purpose
NewRx	Prescriber → Pharmacy	Send a new prescription
RxRenewalRequest	Pharmacy → Prescriber	Request a refill authorization
RxRenewalResponse	Prescriber → Pharmacy	Approve, deny, or replace the renewal
RxChangeRequest	Pharmacy → Prescriber	Request a change to a prescription
RxChangeResponse	Prescriber → Pharmacy	Respond to a change request
CancelRx	Prescriber → Pharmacy	Cancel a previously sent prescription
RxFill	Pharmacy → Prescriber	Notify that a prescription was filled, partially filled, or not picked up
Status / Error / Verify	Both	Acknowledgments and error responses

📄Note: See Messages OverviewMessages Overview for message structures, required fields, and behavioral guidance.

Standards Information

NCPDP

The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) defines the industry standards that govern pharmacy-related transactions such as claims, formulary, and real-time benefit exchange. Upgrade milestones in this tool align to those standards to help you track required changes and stay compliant. Official standards documentation and NCPDP membership information are available at ncpdp.org.

You’ll see NCPDP referenced in milestone names, descriptions, and acceptance criteria. These references indicate which industry standard the milestone supports, not a full list of technical requirements. Always use the official NCPDP implementation guides for detailed specifications.