Epic said Wednesday that it’s releasing a new tool that gives app developers the ability to build Connectors that can link healthcare facility apps to Epic apps.
The electronic health records company said in a press release the technology would eliminate the need for patients, clinicians and administrative staff to switch between apps and portals to get what they need.
Connectors will work with a variety of Epic AI apps: Emmie (Epic’s AI for patients), Art (Epic AI for clinicians), and Penny (Epic AI for revenue cycle and operational teams).
Connectors can bring information from another healthcare operation’s app into Epic when people need it.
For example, it can pull arrival time from an ambulance app so a hospital emergency department can prepare to treat an incoming patient.
A hospitalized patient could ask Emmie for a meal and Emmie could place the order in the hospital’s dietary management app.
“Emmie could use a Connector to bring hospital wayfinding instructions to the patient,” Johnston Thayer, vice president of health informatics at Epic, said in a press release.
“For the surgical team, Epic could check a medical equipment app to find information about assistive device availability and help the care team bring together the devices needed for the patient’s recovery,” he said.
