Epic EHR Integration Aims to Boost Patient Experience, Personalized Care

Epic has partnered with health IT vendor Qualtrics on an EHR integration that will bring patient experience data into clinical workflows.

Integrating patient experience data from Qualtrics directly into patient health records is set to help providers offer a more personal healthcare experience.

"With deep experience across consumer industries, Qualtrics brings a broad perspective to healthcare," Alan Hutchison, vice president at Epic, said in a press release.

"We create software that connects healthcare to improve outcomes, and Qualtrics provides insights that improve the patient experience," Hutchison continued. "Together, our collaboration will help members of the Epic community exceed patients' evolving expectations."

The integration is set to help providers and frontline staff approach patient encounters with more understanding. For instance, if a patient reports that they are increasingly frustrated with scheduling an appointment, the EHR integration will detect and flag that sentiment for the proper teams. Staff can then engage the patient and seek to resolve the issue.

By linking patient feedback to health data, the collaboration aims to provide a more individualized care experience. The integration is also set to simplify data exchange for regulatory reporting, such as HCAHPS.

"Healthcare has done a remarkable job advancing the science of clinical care, and now this collaboration will fuse the emotional experience of care – and responsiveness to it – into healthcare delivery," said Adrienne Boissy, MD, Qualtrics' chief medical officer.

"Being able to bring Qualtrics AI and natural language processing capabilities to the millions of patients Epic touches is game-changing as we amplify the value of experiences to patients and providers alike," she added.

Health systems have reported excitement about the EHR integration and its potential to advance care delivery.

"To improve the patient experience and health outcomes, we need the full picture of every patient, including the emotions involved with each interaction," said Julie Spencer Washington, EVP, chief marketing, communications & customer experience officer at Trinity Health.

"This partnership will allow healthcare providers to improve listening and deepen understanding with the intention of delivering a more holistic patient experience," Spencer Washington added.

Craig Richardville, chief digital and information officer at Intermountain Health, agreed.

"This exciting integration between Qualtrics and Epic will drive more holistic, patient-centric care at scale," Richardville said. "For an enriched patient experience and improved outcomes, healthcare providers must be empowered to understand and act on the entire patient experience, and this collaboration makes that possible."