Epic Launches Website for Health IT Vendors to Report Interoperability

EHR vendor Epic has announced a website for health IT vendors to list their apps and self-report that they have achieved successful interoperability with Epic software.

The website, Connection Hub, opens on January 9, 2023. Site visitors can see the information provided by the vendor, such as app descriptions and links to websites.

The site complements Epic’s new Vendor Services provisioning option for technology access, which provides access to Epic’s newsletters, detailed tutorials, private sandboxes, and technical support.

Officials noted that this change will not affect any live app connection with Epic. Open.epic will remain a free resource for all industry standards and public technologies, such as online specifications and the FHIR Sandbox.

Connection Hub will be open to all vendors, while the App Market is currently limited to only App Market participants. This approach aims to lower barriers for health IT vendors to join the online directory and add clarity for Epic’s customers around the criteria vendors have for joining.

The self-reported nature of Connection Hub represents Epic’s ongoing support of open standards, officials said. In 2014, the EHR vendor launched its first wave of standard-based APIs through open.epic. Today, Epic maintains a portfolio of 450 FHIR APIs across 55 Resources, including the latest R4 version.

“Epic has a long history of exchanging data with applications, and Connection Hub expedites vendors’ ability to show Epic customers that their apps can exchange data with Epic,” Sumit Rana, Epic’s SVP of R&D, said in a public statement.

Connection Hub opens in place of the App Market, which the EHR vendor is renovating and will reopen in a different format sometime in 2023.

For companies currently listed in the App Market Gallery, Epic will provide a simple way to transfer their existing information to Connection Hub. Vendors not listed will be able to join by submitting information to Connection Hub.