Electronic health record giant Epic is overhauling how its provider customers interact with third-party vendors.
On Wednesday, Epic rolled out three programs within its app market to connect third-party vendors into a health system’s EHR. One of the programs will help customers implement technology from a small group of select vendors that have a co-developing relationship with Epic. The changes could have an effect on the third-party vendor market amid Epic’s growing dominance in the hospital EHR space.
Read more: Epic to launch third-party vendor program with Nuance, Abridge
“Just in 2023 alone, we received over 13,000 requests from vendors for special relationships or special integrations that they wanted to co-develop with us,” said Seth Howard, Epic’s senior vice president of research and development. “We quickly realized that we needed a standard framework to help our customers work with these folks in a way that was sustainable.”
Epic first announced changes to how third-party vendors interact with its software in December 2022. In August, the company rolled out the Partners and Pals programs. The designation led some vendors like Abridge, which was a "Pal," to classify the relationship as a “stamp of approval.”
Epic has sought to distance itself from the language.
“We didn't intend it this way, but some people perceived it as it more about a relationship or stamp of approval,” Howard said. “That was never the intent.”
As part of its overhaul announced Wednesday, Epic will have three categories to help customers find information about vendors that integrate within its EHR system. The first, called Connection Hub, was announced last year when Epic temporarily shut down its app market.
There is a $500 annual cost for vendors to join this category. Each vendor submits information about their product and how it integrates with Epic. Products that are live on at least one health system’s EHR will be listed on Connection Hub. Howard said Epic will not validate the information vendors submit.
The second category, dubbed Toolbox, will feature a subset of products available in Connection Hub where Epic has a well-established set of recommendations on how the third-party vendors’ products integrate into Epic’s software. Howard said software that handles tasks like interpretation or payment collection will fall under Toolbox, essentially serving as a blueprint for customers.
The third and most exclusive category is called Workshop. Workshop essentially replaces the "Partners" and "Pals" designation for vendors. Program participants will co-develop new technologies with Epic. In August, it announced relationships with clinical documentation companies Abridge and Microsoft subsidiary Nuance, consumer experience company Press Ganey and customer relationship management software company Talkdesk. Each were live at launch on Wednesday.
Howard said the company determines Workshop categories based on areas where its customers desire innovation and wish to go beyond standards-based integrations. He said Epic develops a specific list of criteria to evaluate the companies it works with in each category.
“We try to determine who are the best, who are the leaders in the space,” Howard said. “Who has a track record of moving quickly to develop innovations that are able to then be scaled to other vendors.”
Howard said vendors participating in both Toolbox and Workshop have unique financial agreements with Epic.
Epic said technology company Qualtrics would be added to its list of Workshop participants later this year.
