EHR Vendor Epic Releases Program for Clinical Trial Access, Matchmaking

EHR vendor Epic has announced the release of its Life Sciences program which aims to help providers, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device manufacturers recruit research participants and expand clinical trial access to underrepresented communities.

"The Life Sciences program is designed to create a seamless connection between participant patients, healthcare providers, and research sponsors through the use of a single system," Alan Hutchison, vice president at Epic, said in a press release.

"Unifying clinical research with care delivery and building a direct connection to study sponsors will help accelerate the development of new therapies by making studies more efficient, more accessible, and more effective,” he added.

Today, many clinical trials use study-specific and disconnected systems that result in duplicative effort and poor communication. These inefficiencies can discourage patients and providers from participating in research.

The first stage of the Life Sciences program will focus on:

• Matching participating providers with clinical trial opportunities suited to their patient populations.
• Sending participating providers purpose-built Cosmos searches to help them validate whether a trial is right for them.
• Making clinical trials more accessible to provider groups by lowering barriers to study activation.
• Increasing clinical trial efficiency by connecting researchers, care teams, patients, and sponsors through one platform.
• Supporting clinicians with point-of-care insights about patients who might qualify for a trial and applying predictive models to help with the timing of therapy administration.

"The first stage of the Life Sciences program, clinical trial matchmaking, is available today and provider organizations in the Epic community are already signing up," said Seth Howard, vice president of research and development at Epic.

"By accurately matching these organizations with clinical trials suited to their patients, researchers will be able to recruit more effectively and help ensure that clinical trials benefit more representative populations," Howard continued. "Ultimately, our shared goal is to help patients access life-changing therapies sooner by reducing friction throughout the clinical trial lifecycle."