Epic

Introduction

Userful’s Integration with Epic allows customers in healthcare to visualize key operational data by connecting their Epic EHR system with Userful. This integration leverages Epic’s APIs to pull data and create visualizations. Currently the integration allows customers to pull data for hospital wait times and wait times by department. This enables customers to visualize wait times in operations centers or even distribute to screens throughout the healthcare facility, to inform staff on this key performance indicator.

Pre-setup: Request Userful Application

Before setting up the Epic integration on the Userful server, the organization must have added the Userful application to their Epic Environment. Per Epic, if they are unsure who has the required security to purchase apps or need to update a user’s security , they can ask their Epic representative or email [e-mail].

Epic has established a checklist procedures recommended that both our Userful (referred to as the Vendor) and the customer (referred to as an Epic Community Member) must follow. This checklist should be reviewed for successful planning and deployment, steps include:

• App Implementation Kickoff Call

• The App Request Process (customer request Userful App from Epic)

• Implementation, Build, Setup and End-to-End Testing

• Go live

• Wrap-up and Ongoing Maintenance

Authentication Methods

This integration offers two authentication methods:

Backend Services Authentication: Backend Services involve a seamless, server-to-server authentication flow. This is the default authentication that would happen if the user does not enable the Integration Credentials option while creating a passport. The user does not have to enter any additional credentials to use this type of authentication.

Basic Authentication: This is password-based authentication, which requires a username and password. It has potential security vulnerabilities, hence not recommended. Users must acknowledge the trade-offs between simplicity and security while using this option for authentication.

Set up Epic Passport

In order to create a secure authentication between the Userful system and the customers Epic system, the customer must create a authentication passport. Multiple passports can be created as needed.

1. In your Userful account, navigate to Sources and Destinations > Integrations.

2. Select Epic Systems.

3. Click Create Passport.

4. Add a name and description for your passport.

5. Enter your Epic server URL.

6. Select the Environment Type. If you are testing the integration, select Test Environment. In all other cases, select Production Environment. The system validates the environment, retrieves essential information, and obtains and maintains an authentication token, periodically refreshing it. This method uses Epic’s Backend Services authentication method, which is Epic’s recommended method.

7. Optional: Enable the Integration Credentials option if you want to use the Basic authentication method. You will need to enter your username and password after enabling this option.

8. Click Save. If the details are valid, the status should reflect as Connected.

Create Wait times chart Source

The wait times charting source will display the rolling average waiting time from the present to as far back as the last 24 hours. The chart can display average waiting times by department or hospital as a whole. Furthermore, the chart can display the longest current wait time and the number of patients in the waiting queue.

1. Navigate to Sources and Destinations > Integrations > Epic.

2. Click the Integration Sources tab.

3. Click Add Source.

4. Add a name and description for your Source.

5. Add Tags if required and select a thumbnail.

6. Add a title for the graph.

7. Select your passport.

8. Select a passport to use.

9. Select how far back to look back on, in minutes to calculate the rolling average (maximum is 24 hours, or 1440 minutes).

10. Enter the Data Refresh Rate (in seconds).

11. Optional: Enable the option to include the longest wait time in addition to the average wait time.

12. Enter the Department ID and Department Type for the department wait times you wish to display.

13. To add more settings and permissions, go to the next step. Else, click Save.

14. Click the Advanced tab to add Resolution and Scaling, and to enable/disable Source Sharing.

15. Click the Permissions tab to add permissions for apps (Decisions and Trends) as well as user groups.

16. Click Save.

When this Source is mapped to a Destination or a Source inside Decisions, the configured data is visualized through a bar chart on the Destination screen.