Although EHR vendor Epic Systems has been blamed for a lack of interoperability, one of its vice presidents recently lauded the company's IT capabilities, according to MedCity News.
All Epic customers are currently connected via Care Everywhere, Epic's in-house interoperability platform. Through it, hospitals on Epic's EHR share patient records with other systems that use Epic, as well as non-Epic systems. According to an Epic whitepaper from October, Care Everywhere is currently available to 1,183 hospitals, 33,989 clinics and 436,726 providers across the country. Epic Vice President of Interoperability Dave Fuhrmann said the platform transfers 1.25 million patient records between health systems each day.
Mr. Fuhrmann also noted that Epic is increasing interoperability with other health IT vendors — possibly before the end of 2016 — via Carequality, a collaborative that's streamlining connections between health IT vendors. "We expect all Epic customers to eventually connect," he said, according to the report.
Mr. Fuhrmann acknowledged Epic's reputation for a lack of interoperability. "There is a perception that Epic doesn't play well," he said. Yet he acknowledged the ultimate need for interoperability, stating, "[w]e certainly do understand [the importance of] having all the parts all work as a whole."
*Note: This article and its headline were updated Nov. 10 at 3:30 p.m. CT.