Epic is moving forward on interoperability by adopting new government standards for data exchange.
The company went live Nov. 4 with application programming interfaces that allow app developers integrating with Epic to be compliant with federal interoperability standards. The EHR vendor offers free, open-source codes that support version 3 of the United States Core Data for Interoperability, aka USCDI v3.
"This is just the latest example of the long-standing support Epic has for interoperability," Epic Showroom lead Antonia Papajani told Becker's. "It's a really scalable way for folks across the industry, whether that be our health system partners, payers, EHR vendors like ourselves or other digital health companies out there trying to connect to all do so in a way that's scalable, so we can achieve the vision of seamless data exchange."
The capabilities will most likely be used by developers looking to interoperate their digital health platforms with Epic, Ms. Papajani said. Showroom's Connection Hub has over 600 live applications.
"Maybe a patient has chosen an app they want to connect up to their record at a certain health system," Ms. Papajani said. "So that data exchange is going to be between a health system's instance of Epic and then ultimately that other app, be that something that's used by a provider at a health system, or a patient choosing to connect something like a coaching app they may have downloaded and want to connect up to their health records so that that information is flowing back and forth with their doctor's office."
USCDI v3 covers social determinants of health, such as disability status, caregiver relationships and tribal affiliation, as well as referrals to social services organizations like homeless shelters. ONC requires the standards to be in place at certified health IT developers by December 2025 but Epic is instituting them a year early. Epic said it plans to also support future versions of USCDI.
"Version 3 adds a lot more personalized data elements about a patient that will help provide a more holistic view of all the different things that contribute to somebody's care and hopefully can have a real impact in exchanging more of those types of data and ultimately help our patients have better outcomes as they cross between different health systems or between different applications," Ms. Papajani said.