Integrating Your App with Epic: What’s Involved (and How We Can Help)

We’ve designed Epic integrations across a wide range of use cases: from AI scribes to surgical device tracking in OpTime, to bulk data retrieval for population health analysis, to interoperability strategies for NIH grant proposals. Right now, we're also managing a range of Epic integration implementations with leading Health Systems, including a pediatric mental health assessment and an Open Source academic research project.

Why do clients trust us with their Epic integrations? Because while integration design is largely technical — APIs, data flows, specifications — real-world implementation demands much more:
  • A deep understanding of HIPAA and healthcare compliance
  • Knowledge of Health System operations, governance, and IT security processes
  • Expertise in clinical workflows and how clinicians actually interact with Epic
  • Access to Epic’s front end

This is why we also have an Epic Physician Builder on our team — a practicing MD and Epic-certified power user. This gives us the unique ability to guide your project from the practitioner-facing side, answer real-world workflow questions, and accelerate adoption across technical and clinical stakeholders.

Why Integrating with Epic Is Different

Epic is the dominant EHR platform in the U.S., powering over 50% of all inpatient hospital beds. If you're building for healthcare, Epic is essential.

Yet for vendors and anyone who’s not actively working inside a Health System that uses Epic, the platform can feel strangely elusive.
  • Many Health Systems that use Epic impose strict no-screenshot policies
  • Epic’s main documentation portal, UserWeb, is only available to active Epic users (ie. Health System employees)
  • While you can access a public Epic sandbox for backend APIs, you cannot fully simulate or explore the Epic UI/UX without internal Health System access

This creates a significant barrier for third parties trying to understand workflows or user interactions. That’s exactly why our Epic Physician Builder is such a critical part of our team — bridging the gap between technical API designs and the lived experience of Epic users.

You found the FHIR APIs?

When vendors first start researching Epic integrations, they often discover the Epic FHIR APIs and assume that’s the whole integration path.

In reality, it’s just a piece of the puzzle.

Epic implements FHIR well, adhering closely to the US Core Profiles, but:
  • Most FHIR resources are read-only
  • Many workflows, like enrollment, scheduling, or order placement, are not fully covered
  • Most FHIR searches and reads require a known Patient ID, complicating "open-ended" workflows

To perform true writebacks or complex integrations, vendors often need to work with older standards like HL7v2 or X12, with specs that are often less clear and harder to interpret than modern REST APIs.

Understanding which standard to use for your workflow is key, and that’s where our deep technical experience shines.

Clinical Workflows and User Features

Designing against documentation is one thing. Testing is the real bottleneck.

Unlike many modern platforms:
  • You cannot spin up Epic locally as a Docker container or VM
  • The public FHIR sandbox is very limited — useful mainly for basic REST calls
  • There’s a SMART on FHIR Launch Harness, but it’s basic
  • There is no public HL7v2 sandbox

Testing a real-world integration, including UI behavior, clinical workflows, and system notifications, requires access to a Health System’s Epic environment.

That's why we lean heavily on our Epic Physician Builder — to test, validate, and refine integrations inside real Epic workflows.

Vendor Services: Epic’s Official Developer Program

For vendors needing a deeper integration track, Epic offers Vendor Services:
  • $1,900 annual subscription fee
  • Access to a broader set of APIs (including non-FHIR Web Services)
  • Better documentation and examples
  • Test tools and application registration management
  • Some direct support for interoperability requests

Vendor Services replaced the old App Orchard program, offering a slightly more accessible and predictable cost structure (though some integrations with heavy API call volume can still rack up costs quickly).

We have experience navigating Vendor Services — from application onboarding to understanding its limits and opportunities.

Implementation: Beyond APIs

APIs are only half the story.

The success of an Epic integration also hinges on:
  • Working through Health System IT governance and security reviews
  • Managing compliance and HIPAA security requirements
  • Designing clinical workflows that make sense to end-users
  • Building training, go-live support, and change management plans

Our team doesn't just design the integration; we guide your project through Health System processes, security assessments, training, and clinical adoption — all the way to successful deployment and scaling.

Ready to Integrate with Epic?

Whether you’re designing an innovative app, launching a pilot with a major Health System, or just testing the waters and exploring early possibilities, we're here to help you succeed. We can:
  • Design and build your Epic integration
  • Navigate Health System processes, reviews and assessments
  • Test and validate integrations with real Epic users
  • Write full Implementation Guides, compliance documentation and workflow plans

Get in touch

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