The Dominant Hospital EHR
More than 300 major health systems run Epic — Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Kaiser Permanente and hundreds more. Any product exchanging clinical data at scale will almost certainly connect to Epic.
Hospital Access Starts With Epic.
Epic powers most large U.S. hospital networks. We deliver App Orchard certification, FHIR R4, Bridges, and MyChart integrations — production-ready.
Book a Technical Consultation
Talk to our integration team about your Epic implementation. We reply within 24 hours.
Trusted by startups and global leaders
What Is Epic Integration
Epic integration connects your application to Epic's EHR platform so clinical data — records, appointments, medications, labs — can be exchanged in a structured, compliant way. It's an ecosystem of pathways, each built for a different use case.
An Ecosystem, Not One Endpoint
Epic exposes multiple integration frameworks — App Orchard, FHIR APIs, Bridges and the MyChart open platform — each designed for a different level of data access and a different type of application.
Review & Certification First
Epic requires external apps to pass formal review and certification before touching production. Projects take longer than teams expect — understanding this upfront saves months in planning.
How External Applications Connect to Epic
Epic offers several integration frameworks, each designed for a different use case and a different level of data access. We build to the pathway your product actually needs.
Epic's official marketplace for certified third-party apps. Listing reduces sales friction with Epic customer hospitals — health systems can activate your integration without custom work. Certification covers technical review, security assessment, and FHIR conformance.
HL7 FHIR R4 REST endpoints for querying patient data, clinical documents and scheduling — secured through SMART on FHIR. Epic's implementation follows USCDI and supports Patient, Condition, MedicationRequest, Observation, Encounter and many more resources.
Epic's framework for system-to-system exchange without a patient-facing interface. Bridges routes HL7 v2 messages for admissions, lab results and orders — the right path when your product needs real-time admit/discharge event notifications from Epic.
Epic's patient portal and mobile app. The open platform lets third-party tools embed within or launch from MyChart — meeting patients inside the application they already use at their health system, rather than requiring a separate download.
The Epic Integration Process
From public sandbox to a live production connection at a customer health system. Hover or tap a step to see what it involves.
-
Step 1 — Sandbox Access
Step 1 — Sandbox Access
Begin on Epic's public sandbox at open.epic.com — testing FHIR API calls against synthetic patient data with no formal agreement. The starting point for validating that your application can retrieve the clinical data it needs.
-
Step 2 — App Orchard Application
Step 2 — App Orchard Application
Submit an application describing the app, its use case, the data it accesses and its security practices. Epic reviews the submission and provides feedback before granting access to the certification environment.
-
Step 3 — Certification Testing
Step 3 — Certification Testing
The app is tested in Epic's certification environment against defined scenarios — resource queries, edge cases, error handling and SMART on FHIR authentication flows. Epic provides test scripts and validates expected behaviour.
-
Step 4 — Health System Activation
Step 4 — Health System Activation
Once certified, the app becomes available for Epic customer health systems to activate. Each system controls which App Orchard apps are enabled; their IT team reviews and configures the connection in their Epic environment.
-
Step 5 — Production Connection
Step 5 — Production Connection
The app connects to the health system's production Epic environment using the issued credentials and endpoints. Ongoing maintenance means monitoring for FHIR version changes and keeping the App Orchard listing current.
Understanding Epic's Role in U.S. and Canadian Healthcare
Epic's footprint in large hospitals makes it unavoidable for any product targeting hospital-based care. App Orchard certification is both a technical milestone and a commercial one.
Unavoidable Market Share in Large Hospitals
More than 250 million patients in the U.S. have a record in an Epic system — the majority of patients seen at large health systems and academic medical centers. For products selling into hospital markets, Epic is part of the conversation.
Rapid Expansion Across Canada
Ontario Health has selected Epic as the platform for its provincial hospital network, moving a large portion of Ontario's hospital infrastructure onto Epic. Epic integration is increasingly relevant for Canadian digital health companies.
Certification as a Commercial Signal
Health system IT buyers look for App Orchard certification as proof an application has been reviewed by Epic and can be deployed without introducing compatibility or security risk to their environment.
Selling Into Hospitals Means Connecting to Epic. We Build That Connection.
App Orchard, FHIR R4, Bridges or MyChart — server-side and client-side. Book a consultation with our integration team and we will tell you what a correct, certifiable Epic implementation looks like for your product, and how long it will actually take.
Book an Epic Integration Consultation
Award-Winning AI Development & Consulting
100 Fastest Growth Companies
Global Spring Winner
Top App Development Company
AWS Partner Network
Google Cloud Partner
Highly Rated on Trustpilot
Verified Agency
Top App Development Company
ASSOCHAM Member
Frequently Asked Questions
[ 1 ]
How long does Epic integration typically take?
It varies with the type of integration and how quickly the App Orchard review moves. Basic FHIR API integration against the open sandbox can be implemented in a few weeks. Getting through App Orchard certification and connecting to a production health system typically takes three to six months, sometimes longer depending on the health system's internal IT review. Teams that underestimate this run into delays when they are ready to go to market but waiting on certification.
[ 2 ]
Is Epic integration required for every digital health product?
Not necessarily. Epic integration is most relevant for products that need to access or exchange clinical data with large hospital systems. Products focused on direct-to-consumer health, employer wellness, or settings that do not involve large hospital systems may not need it at all. But for any product selling into hospital or health system markets, Epic is typically part of the conversation.
[ 3 ]
What data can an application access through Epic FHIR APIs?
Through Epic's FHIR R4 APIs, applications can access patient demographics, conditions and diagnoses, medications and prescription history, lab results, vital signs, clinical notes, care plans, immunizations, allergies, encounter records, and appointment scheduling data. The specific data available depends on the SMART on FHIR scopes the patient or health system has authorized. Epic follows the USCDI standard for the minimum accessible data set.
[ 4 ]
Does Epic work the same way in Canada as in the United States?
The core Epic platform and FHIR APIs function the same way in both countries. However, Canadian implementations may use different patient identifier systems, different provincial code sets for clinical terminology, and different data governance requirements under provincial health information legislation such as PHIPA in Ontario. Canadian teams connecting to Epic-based hospital systems should plan for these differences in their integration design.
Global presence