epic cadence visit types

UI Health Care Epic Education

Cadence (scheduling/check in/check out).

Cadence is Epic's scheduling module used to schedule and track patient appointments. This includes functionality such as canceling and rescheduling; maintaining provider schedules; utilizing the wait list; and special scheduling workflows involving accident-related appointments and scheduling from appointment requests.

The following documents provide information on Scheduling functionality in Cadence.

UI Patient Access Center website

Scheduling Workflows

Basic Workflows

• Overview of Making Appointments (CAD052)  - (eLearning: 8.5 min) Book It is used to schedule appointments.
• Creating New Patient Medical Record Numbers (MRNs)  - (Handout) New patients need a Medical Record Number (MRN) created if they do not already exist in Epic.
• Scheduling in Book It  - (Handout) Book It enables staff to schedule using various views and various types of appointments.
• Location Sorting While Scheduling  - (Handout) Solutions can be sorted by distance from the patient's home ZIP code when scheduling.
• Scheduling an Appointment Using “Copy into Book It”  - (Handout) “Copy into Book It” is a scheduling option that may be used to schedule follow-up appointments from existing appointments that are in a “scheduled” or “completed” status. This is commonly used when follow-up orders are not available for scheduling. This activity copies appointment information from the existing appointment into the Book It activity for easier scheduling.
• Scheduling an Existing Patient (No Orders)  - (Handout) Scheduling a basic appointment for an existing patient at UIHC involves patient-level registration, scheduling the appointment, and appointment-level registration workflows. Appointments are generally scheduled from the patient’s Appointment Desk.
• Scheduling a Joint Appointment  - (Handout) A joint appointment is a single visit scheduled with multiple providers or resources using one visit type.
• Scheduling with One Click - (Handout) “One Click” appointments can be scheduled (and often checked in) quickly into the next available time slot.  See department-specific One Click tip sheets here . 
• Scheduling with Panels  - (Handout) A panel is a group of visit types that are typically scheduled together.
• Scheduling Recurring Appointments  - (Handout) Recurring appointments are a series of appointments, for the same patient, which take place on a regular basis.
• Scheduling Sequential Appointments  - (Handout) Sequential appointments are two or more visit types scheduled in the same entry process and can consist of any number of visit types and providers.

Open Access Workflows

• Scheduling a Presurg Evaluation Clinic (PEC) Appointment  - (Handout) Staff have open access to schedule Presurgical Evaluation Clinic (PEC) appointments more than one day into the future. Appointments should be scheduled from an order. For same day / next day scheduling, page 6796 for approval.
• Scheduling for 24 Hour Blood Pressure Monitoring  - (Handout) Schedule a patient for 24 hour Blood Pressure (BP) Monitoring using open access scheduling.
• Scheduling for Clinical DXA Scan  - (Handout) Schedule a patient for a Clinical DXA Scan (bone densitometry) using open access scheduling.
• Scheduling Into Food and Nutrition Services (FNS)  - (Handout) All staff have open-access to schedule a patient into Food and Nutrition Services.  Note:  Please refer to department scheduling guidelines for those departments with a dietician.
• Scheduling for IDx Exam  - (Handout) All staff have open access to schedule clinical IDx Exams. IDx is a system that detects diabetic retinopathy, and the exam is done at IRL only.
• Scheduling MyChart Video Visits  - (Handout) For patients in Iowa with a concern about an infectious respiratory illness (such as the Novel Coronavirus - COVID-19), a video visit can be scheduled after determining appropriateness. The patient must have a MyChart account to complete the video visit.
• Scheduling Preventative Care (Annual Physical) Visits - (Handout) When a patient with a Primary Care Provider (PCP) in our organization is overdue for their annual physical, a pop-up message displays on their Appointment Desk when opened. Anyone can and should schedule these visits following the instructions in the pop-up message.
• Scheduling for Pulmonary Function Test (PFT)  - (Handout) Schedule a patient for Pulmonary Function Testing using open access scheduling.
• Scheduling a Screening Mammogram  - (Handout) Screening mammograms can be scheduled for patients who need an annual mammogram. The following guidelines must be followed: • Patient must be symptom free; transfer to Radiology Scheduling if patient has any breast symptoms: 319- 356-3444. • Do not schedule screening mammograms when in conjunction with other breast imaging scans (e.g. breast ultrasound). • Must be scheduled 12 months or later following the last screening mammogram for patients with Medicare A&B.

Appointment Requests

NOTE:  Information regarding Appointment Request Workqueues is found under the "Workqueues" header at the bottom of this page.

• Creating Appointment Request Reminders - (Handout) Automated reminders can be added to appointment requests.
• Scheduling from an Appointment Request  - (Handout) Orders placed in EpicCare can be scheduled in Cadence. When scheduling from an appointment request, the system automatically selects the appropriate visit type if one is linked. Requests can be scheduled from either the patient’s Appointment Desk or from the Appointment Request Workqueue. Requests can also be linked or unlinked to existing appointments.
• Linking/Unlinking Requests to Existing Appointments  - (Handout) Appointment Requests can be linked or unlinked to existing appointments from the Appointment Desk. This can be done for future or past appointments, including after end of day processing has run on an appointment.
• Making a Canceled Request Schedulable  - (Handout) Unexpired appointment requests that are manually removed from the Appointment Request workqueue can be made reschedulable.
• Order Up Scheduling for Clerical Staff  - (Handout) Order Up, available from a patient's Appointment Desk, allows staff to schedule quickly and easily from an Appointment Request. Only available for some Appointment Requests.

Accident Related

• Accident-Related Encounters (Claim Information Record)  - (Handout) When scheduling or checking in an accident-related appointment, additional information needs to be collected regarding the accident. Claim Information Records keep track of information related to an encounter that is accident-related. A Claim Information Record must be created for the accident and attached to each encounter related to that accident.

Appointment Desk

• Accessing an Existing Patient's Appointment Desk  - (Handout) Accessing the Appointment Desk for an existing patient will require a search by their name/MRN.
• Appointment Desk Components  - (Handout) Most scheduling starts from the patient’s Appointment Desk. The Appointment Desk displays information regarding the patient’s demographics, guarantor, insurance coverage, appointment history, future appointments, schedulable orders, and more.
• Appointment Desk Overview (CAD050)  - (eLearning: 3 min) Video provides an Overview of the Appointment Desk.
• Appointment Desk Patient Messages - (Handout) Patient Messages can be used to communicate scheduling details about a patient. These messages display on the patient’s Appointment Desk sidebar and in Access Storyboards.
• Filtering the Appointment Desk  - (Handout) The Appointment Desk tabs can be filtered to display only relevant information.

Appointment Alerts

• Confirming an Appointment Accidentally Canceled by a Patient Using Interactive Appointment Reminders  - (Handout) If a patient erroneously cancels their appointment via text or e-mail when they meant to confirm the appointment and the cancelation has not yet processed in Epic, UIHC staff can intervene and correct this pending cancelation by confirming the appointment for the patient in Epic.
• Documenting a Patient’s Appointment Notification Preferences  - (Handout) Patients can choose to be notified via email and/or MyChart (or opt out of notifications) when any of the following occur: an appointment is scheduled, canceled, changed, or missed (“Appointment Notifications”); an AVS is available; a wait list offer has been sent. These preferences are stored in the patient’s Communication Preferences activity and can be turned on or off by staff per the patient’s preference.
• Documenting Appointment Reminders  - (Handout) Appointment Reminder Preferences indicate how a patient prefers to be contacted to remind them of an upcoming appointment. Up to two reminder types can be selected.
• Patient Updates from the DAR  - (Handout) In case of a clinic delay or similar clinic disruption in which a patient notification is necessary or of benefit, supervisors can send a message for affected appointments from the Department Appointments Report (DAR).

Cancel/Reschedule/Moving Appointments

• Canceling and/or Rescheduling an Appointment  - (Handout) An appointment can be canceled and/or rescheduled from the patient’s Appointment Desk or the DAR.
• Converting Office Visits to Telemedicine Visits for Front Line Staff  - (Handout) There are may be times when it might be necessary to convert current in person appointment to telemedicine appointments, either due to patient condition or provider/ clinic availability.
• Moving Appointments between Providers  - (Handout) Appointments can be moved from one schedule to another in the View Schedules activity.
• Reschedule Report  - (Handout) The Reschedule report can be used to find and contact patients when they need to be rescheduled due to a provider change (eg, template change).
• Using the Follow-up Report  - (Handout) The Follow-up report allows users to track and process incomplete appointments.

Care Everywhere

• Identifying a Care Everywhere Referral  - (Handout) Care Everywhere referral information will display in various activities in Epic and the Care Everywhere activity can also be opened from these activities.

Chart Review

• Opening Chart Review for Front Desk Users  - (Handout) Front Desk users can most easily open Chart Review from Patient Station.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

• CRM for Schedule Variance Tracking  - (Handout) When a scheduling variance is identified or perceived to be outside of “ideal” scheduling or check-in times, a CRM is created to document the variance and outcome.

Facilitated Access

• Scheduling a New Patient Visit for a Facilitated Access Patient  - (Handout) “Facilitated Access” patients are patients who have been determined to be offered improved access for new patient visits. These patients will have one of the UI insurance plans. To improve access for facilitated access patients to new patient visits / appointments, these patients should be scheduled within 10 calendar days. If the 10-day window is not accommodated during scheduling, a warning will display alerting the scheduler to schedule within 10 days after selecting the slot. If the scheduler continues forward through the warning and schedules the visit beyond the 10-day window, they are prompted to select a reason.
• Automatic Ticket Scheduling  - (Handout) For some orders, patients can receive a “Ticket” for scheduling. This means the patient can schedule the follow up visit for themself in MyChart or from an email link if they don’t have MyChart. The orders will display in the relevant workqueue as well.
• Bundle Scheduling Tickets (CAD906)  - (Elearning: 4.5 min) If a patient has multiple orders that are appropriate to send as tickets to MyChart, the tickets can be bundled and the scheduling order can be specified when appropriate.
• Bundle Scheduling Tickets  - (Handout) If a patient has multiple orders that are appropriate to send as tickets to MyChart, the tickets can be bundled and the scheduling order can be specified when appropriate.
• Manual Ticket Scheduling (CAD903)  - (Elearning: 8 min) Learn how to send patients with MyChart an appointment request for self-scheduling.
• Manual Ticket Scheduling  - (Handout) Learn how to send patients with MyChart an appointment request for self-scheduling.
• Sending a MyChart Activation Message  - (Handout) The MyChart Signup activity can be used to generate an activation code and email or text it to the patient. This is only available for patients age 12 and older.
• Send MyChart Message from the Appointment Desk  - (Handout) For patients with Active MyChart accounts, MyChart Messages can be sent from their Appointment Desk.
• Documenting a New Call Patient Communication  - (Handout) The New Call feature allows users to record communication with a patient, such as attempts to reach the patient to schedule an appointment.

Patient Care Teams and Sensitive Visit

Patient Care Teams

• Adding a Provider on the Fly  - (Handout) The Provider on the Fly activity allows users to create a provider record when it does not currently exist in the system.
• Marking a Visit as Sensitive  - (Handout) Marking a visit as “Sensitive” will prevent the visit-level documentation from being shared with outside entities. The documentation will not be available through the Iowa Health Information Network (IHIN), Care Everywhere, UI CareLink, or Comm Management, but will be viewable to the patient in MyChart. This functionality is only available for outpatient visits.
• Patient Care Team/EMR Information Sharing Matrix  - (Handout) This matrix provides details on the Epic activities used to share patient information from the Epic system.
• Updating the Patient Care Team During Scheduling, Check In, and Registration  - (Handout) The Patient Care Team activity provides a single access point for managing the relationships a patient may have with a variety of providers involved in their healthcare. The Patient Care Team is reviewed and updated during Scheduling, Check In and Registration. (Other roles have access to edit the Care Team, as well.) In addition, the PCP is verified on the Checklist during Scheduling and Check In workflows when it displays as unverified.

Patient Lookup

• Potential Duplicate Records Window  - (Handout) When creating a new patient MRN (Medical Record Number), the Potential Duplicate Records Window will pop up showing any patients with similar information. Closely review this information to determine if a potential duplicate patient may already exist. If there’s an existing match, then use the existing patient MRN rather than creating a duplicate.

Patient Not Present

• Patient Not Present Appointments  - (Handout) The “Patient Not Present” (PNP) scheduling workflow is used when a Hospital Account Record (HAR) needs to be created for a patient that is not present but for whom billable services are being provided. Examples of when a Patient Not Present encounter would be used include: • Various lab specimens received • Outside tests are performed and sent to the UIHC to be read by our providers, including radiology exams • Optical Shop & contact lens • Pathology specimens for diagnosis/consultation • Other reasons Staff may schedule same-day appointments using the standard scheduling workflow or they may use One Click. One Click must be set up for a department. To schedule appointments for past dates, the standard scheduling workflow must be used.

Provider Schedule

• Interpreting Provider Schedules (CAD060)  - (Elearning: 5 min) The Schedules view in Book It and the View Schedules activities show the schedule for a provider.
• Interpreting Provider Schedules and Making Minor Changes  - (Handout) Schedulers can access the provider schedule during the scheduling workflow using Book It. The provider schedule can also be accessed without being in the middle of the scheduling workflow using the View Schedules activity. Both activities allow users to schedule and make short-term edits or exceptions to a provider’s schedule.
• Making Minor Changes to Provider Schedules (CAD016)  - (Elearning: 11.5 min) Make minor changes to a provider's schedule, including setting time and individual days on hold and unavailable, and editing slots.
• Running the Template Audit Trail Report  - (Handout) The Template Audit Trail Report displays changes made to a provider’s template, including the type of change made, date and time of the change, and user who made the change. The report can be run from within the Edit Template or Edit Template for Single Day activities, or through the Epic button.
• Updating the Encounter Provider  - (Handout) The Schedule Provider Change button allows the user to update the Encounter Provider from the Schedule.

Quick Care and Urgent Care

• Marking an "Open Scheduling" Time Slot "Unavailable" for Quick Care and Urgent Care  - (Handout) Under certain circumstances, Quick Care and Urgent Care front desk staff may need to mark “Open Scheduling” time slots “Unavailable” so that patients cannot self-schedule into them.
• One Click Scheduling for Quick Care and Urgent Care  - (Handout) Front desk staff at Quick Care and Urgent Care locations schedule patients upon their arrival to the clinic using “One Click” Scheduling.

Scheduling with Referrals

Referrals website

Surgical and Procedural Pre-Authorizations

DDC, Dermatology, HVC, Neurosurgery, OBGYN,Orthopedics, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Surgery, Urology, and Vascular Surgery

• Scheduling Procedural Appointments from the Schedule Referrals Workqueue  - (Handout) A referral record is automatically created from a case or procedure order. Procedure orders that require appointment scheduling will appear on the Schedule Referrals workqueue.

Incoming and Internal Referrals

Note: Incoming and Internal Referrals content has been moved to the web page below.

Incoming and Internal Referrals website

Registration

• Adding Guarantor Account Notes During Scheduling  - (Handout) When there are changes to a patient’s insurance information, if the patient already has a guarantor record, schedulers may add a Guarantor Account Note to collect the insurance information. This information will fall to a PFS Registration Workqueue so the insurance can be updated later.
• Cadence Registration (Appointment-Level & Patient-Level)  - (Webpage) Registration is reviewed and updated during scheduling, check in, and check out. Appointment-Level information is specific to the appointment or visit, such as bill area and referring provider. Patient-Level information pertains to the patient regardless of the appointment (ex: patient demographics).
• Overview of the Snapboard  - (Handout) The Snapboard is most commonly used to view, edit, and schedule appointments.
• Changing an Appointment from the Snapboard  - (Handout) Date and Time of appointments, Appointment Notes, Providers/Resources (for example, if the CRC Check-In Desk was forgotten), and Appointment Lengths can all be changed from the Snapboard by using the right click menu.
• Using the Wait List  - (Handout) The Wait List is used to track patients who either have an appointment in the future but want to be seen sooner, or do not have an appointment in the future but want to be contacted if there is an opening.

Workqueues website

• Canceling a Request from the Appointment Request Workqueue  - (Handout) Requests on the “Active” tab of the Appointment Request workqueue can be manually canceled.
• Deferring within Workqueues  - (Handout) Users may defer a list item within a workqueue for a given length of time. This moves it to the Defer tab of the workqueue. At the end of the given length of time, the list item (e.g. account or transaction) will return to the Active tab of the workqueue.
• Filtering Workqueues  - (Handout) Workqueues can be filtered and saved as favorites to provide quick and easy access to the most commonly used workqueues.
• Reviewing Workqueue List Basics  - (Handout) To find patients that have referrals and need to be scheduled, the Referrals Workqueue List is used to quickly find these patients.
• Transferring Requests in the Appointment Request Workqueue  - (Handout) Requests in the Appointment Request workqueue can be manually transferred from one departmental workqueue to another. A reason for can also be entered to clarify why the order is being transferred.
• Working Front Line Patient Workqueues  - (Handout) Front line Patient workqueues are worked by staff on a daily basis to correct errors on appointments that must be fixed.

Return to  Cadence (Scheduling/Check In/Check Out)

Return to Epic Resources

Epic Glossary

Epic clinical applications.

Application for care and clinical documentation in the emergency department

Application for inpatient documentation performed by clinicians and may include notes, flowsheets, assessments, plan of care and medication administration. Used by nurses, nurse practitioners, managers, therapists, physicians, physician assistants, case managers and social workers.

EpicCare Ambulatory

Application for documenting care provided through outpatient visits, telephone calls, e-visits and refill requests.

Application for the ordering of workflows of inpatient orders. Can be used to share order details, sign orders, place orders and find orders.

Epic Ancillary Clinical Applications

Application for any procedure requiring anesthesia

Application for chemotherapy ordering, administration and cancer staging. Used by inpatient and outpatient oncologists, nurses, pharmacists, research and infusion staff.

Application for laboratory information systems. Used by phlebotomists, nurses, techs, pathologists and central receivers.

Clinical Case Management

Application designed to centralize the workflows for case managers.

Application for cardiovascular information system. Used to order and document cardiology procedures and cases.

Infection Control

Application for infection surveillance, which helps detect, monitor and report certain types of infections in the inpatient setting.

Application for the operating room. Helps prepare, schedule and document all information related to surgery.

Application for radiology information system. Used for ordering, scheduling and performing imaging procedures.

Application for documenting perinatal care. Used to document a patient’s entire pregnancy, admit babies and document newborn assessments.

Willow Inpatient Pharmacy

Application for inpatient prescription pharmacy system. Used in the hospital setting for admitted patients, procedures, surgeries and diagnostics.

Epic Access Applications

Application for managing patient movement (admissions, transfers and discharge from units throughout the hospital).

Application for scheduling appointments, creating provider/resource schedules, and keeping schedules up to date with changes.

Health Information Management

Application for managing health information. Used to handle releases of information from a patient’s chart, manage deficiencies as physicians complete notes and sign orders, and facilitate the coding of accounts.

Application for managing the patient database.

Application for managing patient registration over the front desk and over the phone.

Epic Revenue Applications

Access and revenue cycle (arcr).

Group of revenue and billing operational Subject Matter Experts who provide input in the design, build and implementation.

Resolute Hospital Billing & Claims

Application for collecting and reviewing charges, billing facility (hospital) charges to insurance companies and patients, following up on outstanding accounts and collecting payments for services.

Resolute Professional Billing & Claims

Application for collecting and reviewing charges, billing professional (physician) charges to insurance companies and patients, following up on outstanding accounts and collecting payments for services.

Other Epic Applications

EpicCare’s mobile app for the iPad. Designed to give providers secure and portable access to patient charts.

Care Everywhere Interoperability

Epic’s platform that supports the exchange of patient records with other providers outside our system. It ensures that patients’ health data follows them wherever they receive care.

Cogito Enterprise Intelligence (including Star Data Warehouse)

Module for several products in the reporting area. The huge amounts of clinical data that are collected by every part of the Epic system are stored in databases that can be queried to provide all manner of reporting to support care decisions, manage costs, and identify trends.

EpicCare Link

Web-based application that connects community providers (referring physicians, post-acute facilities, physician support staff) with secure access to select patient information.

Epic Hyperspace

Access point for RWJBarnabas Health physicians and staff. This is where Administrative and Clinical data is managed.

EpicCare’s mobile app for the iPhone and Droid. It gives providers secure and portable access to patient charts.

Healthy Planet Population Health

Application that provides a suite of reports, dashboard and workflow tools that allow Care Managers to manage patient populations in and apart from Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).

Secure online application that allows patients to schedule appointments, view medications and request refills, message their provider for advice, and record their own health data (such as blood pressure and glucose levels).

Other Epic Terms & Acronyms

Best practice advisory (bpa).

An advisory configured by administrators can be triggered based on patient-based factors, among other things, and can be restricted as needed to prevent alert fatigue on the end users’ part. BPAs can appear in the Visit Navigator, Order Entry, and In Basket messages.

Chart Review

Central place in the Epic chart to find all Encounters for a patient.

Credentialed Trainers

People Epic trains and allows to train others.

Epic Together

Represents the RWJBH Epic implementation team, comprised of approximately 450 members.

A clinical contact with a patient. For example, an office visit, an admission, or a triage call. If more than one evaluation or procedure takes place at the visit, it is usually considered one encounter. In billing applications, charges or other transactions can be associated with encounters.

Foundation System

Epic’s standard system, which includes content and workflows based on the expertise and experience of the Epic community and the Epic staff.

Hospital Outpatient Department (HOD)

A specialty department that provides outpatient type care to patients who may or may not be admitted to the hospital. These departments often use a combination of clinical documentation tools from both EpicCare Ambulatory and EpicCare Inpatient. These departments also known as hospital service departments, but hospital outpatient department is the preferred term.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Epic assists customers with measuring KPIs by providing a package of reports related to the business metrics that it considers crucial to monitoring the health of a customer system. Measuring KPIs is part of Epic’s Good Install program.

A series of sections meant to follow a particular workflow, such as an office visit or medication reconciliation. Common examples include the Visit Navigator and the Discharge Navigator.

Activity that allows you to use point and click functionality for HPI, ROS, and physical exam, generating text in your progress note.  OpTime Epic’s operating room management application.

A preconfigured group of orders commonly ordered together for a specific problem or diagnosis. Order Sets may be suggested based on entries on your patient’s problem list, and you can also mark Order Sets you use frequently as your favorites.

Preference List

A set of frequently used orders. Orders can be added to facility preference lists by members of your project team and you can also maintain your own personal preference list to include orders you have pre-related information prior to a patient’s arrival at the hospital. Preadmission helps prevent users from creating duplicate encounters.

Within Epic, any order that is not a medication is classified as a procedure. This includes orders for such things as lab tests, consults, supplies, and imaging.

Release of Information

Epic’s Health Information Management (HIM) application used to track and fulfill requests for patient health information.

Release of Information Activity

The main activity in Epic’s Release of Information application, where you can authorize, fulfill, and document requests for patient health information.

A documentation template. A group of orders and other elements, such as notes, chief complaints, SmartGroup Panels, and levels of service, that are commonly used together to document a specific type of visit. Using SmartSets reduces data entry time so you can focus more time on your patients.

A text template for charting that can include text, SmartPhrases, SmartLists, and SmartLinks. Frequently used in progress notes. They can be big or small many paragraphs or just one sentence.

Pre-configured text that can be used to standardize documentation, such as notes, within the system. SmartTools include SmartLinks, SmartLists, SmartPhrases, and SmartTexts.

Subject Matter Expert (SME)

Provides input during the workflow and content review.

Super Users

Local “experts” who provide input related to their area.

Ten Benefits to Epic Scheduling Optimization

When patients call a health system to schedule an appointment, they expect the same experience whether they’re talking to primary care, neurology, or pediatrics. And they expect to be able to get an appointment that meets their preferences for location, date, time of day, and provider.

In theory, this should be an efficient process, but it usually isn’t. In a large organization, different departments and medical practices typically maintain different sets of scheduling rules. These rules often change and, in some cases, are only documented on paper.

👉 Download Your Free Guide to Scheduling Optimization

When scheduling policies and procedures are siloed and decentralized, errors can occur, appointments are missed or skipped, and revenue is lost. This results in a poor patient experience and frustration for staff and providers.

Enterprise Scheduling Optimization

Fortunately, there’s a better way. Using existing functionality within Epic Cadence, an Enterprise Scheduling Optimization Project (ESOP) can help organizations efficiently guide patients to the ideal appointment based on their preferences, resulting in fewer no-shows and better schedule balance, among other benefits.

In our new guide to scheduling optimization , our Epic experts explain how health systems can improve efficiency and increase revenue by getting patients to the right provider at the right time in the right location using automation and questionnaire-driven Decision Trees in the Epic scheduling solution.

An ESOP requires specialized technical expertise from outside consultants and an investment of time and effort from internal staff, but the ROI on these projects can be significant, helping clients achieve the following 10 goals:

• Reduce cancellations, no-shows, and re-visits . Ensuring that visits are scheduled where and when patients want them improves the patient experience, provides for a more predictable schedule, and leads to increased visit volume and practice revenue.
• Reduce number of visit types . This decreases the complexity of scheduling visits with specialty practices, streamlines the scheduling process, and gets patients’ appointments on the books faster.
• Reduce scheduling inbound call length . This allows staff to schedule and confirm an appointment date, time, and provider with a patient in less time, improving the patient experience and decreasing the likelihood of being put on hold.
• Reduce time to Third Next Available Appointment . This common KPI metric is a reflection of expected patient wait time. Decreasing this number increases the likelihood that a patient can schedule an appointment when desired, which improves satisfaction and retention rates.
• Increase first-call resolution . Enable patients to schedule or reschedule an appointment, or otherwise get answers to their questions, without having to hang up and call a practice directly and/or call back when the practice manager is in the office.
• Increase visit volume . With patients less likely to no-show or cancel, practices can conduct more visits in the same amount of time. Increased volume improves efficiency, which in turn improves revenue capture.
• Increase resource utilization . Increased visit volume allows practices to better utilize physical equipment, such as MRI machines or blood labs. Meanwhile, efficient scheduling enables highly skilled clinical staff to “practice to their license” while low-acuity visits types are router to NPs and PAs.
• Reduce insurance claim processing time . Decreasing complexity in scheduling workflows means that patients are more likely to be scheduled for the right appointment at the right time with the right provider. This streamlines claims processing, as errors or missing information are less likely.
• Reduce claims denial rate . The accuracy of information captured when an appointment is scheduled – such as visit type, provider name, and new vs. returning patient – decreases the likelihood that claims are incorrect and therefore likely to be denied.
• Increase revenue capture . The combination of accurate coding, reduced denials, and increased visit volume all enable a practice to capture more revenue.

At Healthcare IT Leaders, our Epic experts have a track record of success with optimizing and centralizing scheduling for large provider organizations throughout the United States. Download our free guide to learn more .

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Improving Patient Scheduling Outcomes with Epic

Co-authored by Brennan Turner, President and Co-Founder of The Joiner Firm .

Scheduling patients can be a deceptively complex process. While the idea of a patient selecting a time slot seems simple enough, there are several questions to consider:

• Does the patient have general questions or specific symptoms that may require an appointment with a specialist?
• Does the patient have an existing relationship with a provider?
• Is the patient new to the healthcare system?

As you can see, a clinic’s scheduling process is important in ensuring that appointments are scheduled accurately.

Appointments scheduled incorrectly are not always identified right away. In many instances the patient has already arrived, or the appointment is canceled at the last minute. This makes it difficult to ensure schedules are full and the provider’s time is maximized. When appointments are scheduled correctly the first time, there will be fewer last-minute cancellations and visit volume will increase.

Improving patient scheduling is key. The implementation of decision tree functionality can ensure that the patient is seen by the right provider at the right time. An effective decision tree can remove barriers to patient access, increase patient satisfaction, decrease revenue loss, and ensure effective time management. Decision trees are an Epic functionality that utilize rules and logic to aid a scheduler in navigating complex scheduling scenarios. Much of the decision tree logic runs in the background, unbeknownst to the scheduler, and references specific patient data within Epic to guide the scheduler through the scheduling process.

Epic is a leading Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software that stores all patient data, ranging from patient demographics to medical history. Since it is an electronic database, healthcare organizations can leverage this patient data against their specific clinic workflows through the implementation of decision trees.

An effective decision tree can remove barriers to patient access, increase patient satisfaction, decrease revenue loss, and ensure effective time management.

Sendero sat down with Brennan Turner , a senior Epic Cadence consultant with The Joiner Firm , who we recently partnered with at a large healthcare provider to improve their clinic-specific scheduling workflows. We discussed the functionalities and benefits of scheduling with Epic decision trees:

What are Epic decision trees, and how can they help improve the patient scheduling process?

Brennan Turner : Decision trees are scheduling tools in Epic that utilize a set of predetermined questions and logic to guide a scheduler to correctly make an appointment with a clinic, without having to know the specific scheduling rules of each department. This tool can improve scheduling accuracy by making sure the right visit type, provider, and location are selected the first time, with an overall benefit of lowering no-show and cancellation rates.

How does this improve patient satisfaction?

What impact does this have on training of new staff?

Brennan Turner : Scheduling rules are often either stored in a repository, written on a sticky note, or live within the knowledge of seasoned schedulers. This can make it difficult for new staff to schedule appointments accurately, causing frustration for the patient, the clinics, and the providers. With the decision-making process being built within Epic and automated through decision trees, there is less clinic-specific information a scheduler needs to learn.

Decision tree design considerations for healthcare organizations

An effective decision tree is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Each organization needs to consider their unique requirements and operational needs:

Considerations for Clinics

Decision trees can provide a high degree of automated control to ensure that patients are being scheduled for the right visit at the right time with the right provider:

• Clinic level payor restrictions can be built to filter out certain insurance types. The decision tree uses logic in the background to determine if a patient’s primary insurance is accepted at a clinic.
• Age restrictions can also be built at the clinic level if there is a certain age group that the clinic does not see. As noted above, a pediatric clinic can set an age restriction to only accept new patients over 2 years of age.
• Clinics with subspecialists or unique programs can also utilize decision trees to aid in scheduling accuracy. For example, a clinic with a weight-management program can ensure qualifying patients are scheduled in the right time slots with the right subset of providers.

Considerations for Physicians

Every physician, regardless of their practice, serves a unique panel of patients. Decision trees can help maintain unique workflows through monitoring patients’ reasons for office visits.

To ensure that patients’ concerns are not only identified prior to the visit, but also scheduled properly, a decision tree can be built to “flip” an appointment type to the proper visit type. A series of questions can be asked by the scheduler to determine if the original visit type is correct. For example, a patient with multiple concerns may need a little extra time, so the decision tree can suggest offering an extended office visit vs. a standard office visit. Additionally, a patient could call in with a specific concern that warrants its own specific type of visit, such as ADD/ADHD care.

Considerations for Implementation

Implementing decision tree functionality is no light undertaking; it involves detailed conversations across the clinic to verify that no details are overlooked in the process. To ensure that decision trees are inclusive of the entire clinics’ workflows, meetings need to be held with clinic management, subject matter experts, front desk personnel, and anyone else that may be involved in the scheduling process. It is very important at this step to get everyone past a theoretical understanding of what Epic can do and get them to critically think about how this application will affect their scheduling if they were to solely rely on it to accurately reflect their clinic processes.

Epic decision tree design is a complex process involving detailed scrutiny prior to the build and implementation phase. Sendero’s partnership with Epic allows for technical analysts to obtain the necessary clinical considerations and focus on building an effective program. We can liaise with a clinic and focus on communication, process alignment, and project execution.

Interested in learning more about Sendero’s expertise in this area? Use the form below to reach out to one of our consultants.

By Christina Speros and Harris Neuens

Decision trees can improve scheduling accuracy by making sure the right visit type, provider, and location are selected the first time, with an overall benefit of lowering no-show and cancellation rates. Brennan Turner, President and Co-Founder of The Joiner Firm

More Case Studies

A large non-profit healthcare provider experienced significant growth through mergers and acquisitions, now providing services to more than five million patients. As a result, the organization faced a multitude of overlapping strategic and departmental initiatives.

After the merger of two large Texas-based healthcare systems, a need existed to change to one electronic medical record (EMR) system across the enterprise.

After a healthcare system went through a merger, they launched a project to consolidate Find a Doctor websites to improve the patient experience.

A large healthcare system was notified that it is now required to report compliance as one entity, rather than separate small business units. Through existing relationships, the client learned of Sendero's experience with PCI Compliance and requested assistance.

About the Author

Harris is a Consultant in our Dallas office with industry experience in healthcare and financial services.

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Epic Patient Access Modules

Streamline patient experience with tools and more with Epic Patient Access modules. You’ll benefit from more efficient operations while increasing patient satisfaction. Get the top quality consultants you need from the HealthTECH Resources network.

Optimizing Your Epic Patient Access Modules

“Patient access” refers to a consumer’s ability to get—to “access”—the healthcare services they need. The ease in which they receive access will play a significant role in their overall patient experience and subsequent loyalty.

This in turn fuels a healthcare organization’s ability to continue to generate income. This is true because of increased loyalty and also because registration processes are the ideal time to get accurate patient information to use for billing purposes.

Epic software provides hospitals and other healthcare organizations with streamlined patient access applications, ones customizable to unique workflows. To maximize benefits and results, create a powerful Epic team by filling in staffing gaps with HealthTECH Resources.

We have just one niche—the healthcare IT/EMR/EHR space—and our unsurpassed network of Epic consulting professionals , accelerated solutions, and unparalleled experience will allow you to fill staffing gaps to implement, integrate, and optimize Epic Patient Access modules.

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We Support These Epic Patient Access Modules

Epic grand central / epic prelude enterprise registration.

This is the admission/discharge/transfer (ADT) module. This system allows healthcare facilities to track inpatient visits from when people arrive and are admitted to when they’re transferred throughout the facility through the point of discharge. Grand Central contains workflows for bed planning (in multiple facilities), patient location abilities, housekeeping management and more with real-time reporting and analytics available.

Epic BedTime

This patient access module focuses on reducing the amount of time it takes for admitted patients to receive a bed and otherwise optimizing bed flow. Once the admittance decision is made, your team will place a bed request order and, after verification is made, personnel will assign one.

Epic Cadence

This is Epic’s scheduling module for outpatient and specialty healthcare clinics, used to schedule patient appointments and then track them. After a physician appointment is made, the scheduling team will have access; you can decide whether a team member will only see their own patients or the entire schedule. Scheduling staff can then check a patient in and otherwise manage daily flow.

Epic MyChart

Available as both a web-based system and an app for Apple and Android, Epic MyChart allows patients to manage their own medical care. They can view test results, prescriptions, past and upcoming doctor visits, as well as request appointments with their physicians—along with many other features.

Epic Welcome Kiosk

To streamline the registration process, healthcare facilities can combine the power of MyChart with Epic Welcome Kiosks to empower patients and streamline the registration process. Patients can begin registering at home through MyChart online and then complete the process when arriving at their appointment through self service kiosks. This eliminates stress associated with lines and waiting times when registering.

Epic Security

This module allows Epic end users to safely and efficiently access their workflows with customizable security levels that can be set appropriately for each module and group of users. Security allows IT teams to create integrated security templates that can be used across Epic modules.

Epic Cheers

Epic Cheers is a robust CRM module that’s designed to help patients who are seeking direct care while streamlining the intake process. Plus, it allows patients to remain connected to healthcare providers while outside the walls of a doctor’s office or hospital. Epic Cheers provides healthcare organizations with deep, transparent insights about populations being served, which allows them to proactively prepare for patient needs, broadly speaking, and then enrich the individual patient care experience. This module will send targeted messaging to patients using Epic MyChart and otherwise keep them engaged in ways that give facilities a competitive advantage.

Contact HealthTECH Resources for Epic Patient Access Module Professionals

HealthTECH Resources has more than 20 years of experience in helping healthcare organizations like you augment their IT teams. You can engage with our outstanding network of experts as consultants, contractor-to-hire professionals, or permanent placements—ones that specialize in Patient Access modules and fulfill roles such as: analysts, application coordinators, instructional designers, project managers, program managers, directors, training professionals, and more.

Niche roles that can be filled include these, among numerous others:

• Epic Grand Central/Epic Prelude Analyst
• Epic MyChart Consultant
• Epic Cadence Instructional Designer

Our boutique-style agency meets the most stringent staffing requirements on the most urgent timetables. In fact, we often have requested professionals from our deep, wide, and extensive networks on site within 48 hours. HealthTECH Resources is the fastest, most knowledgeable, and reliable recruiting team in the EMR/EHR industry and we’re ready to help you.

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FAQS: Epic Patient Access Modules

Patient access starts with registration and scheduling and provides support to patients and providers throughout the healthcare experience—and is considered a key part of the revenue cycle.

During registration, your intake teams can gather demographic and insurance-related information to begin to capture a medical record of this visit. This information can then be used by numerous teams within your healthcare organization. During this process, your staff can determine what a patient’s financial responsibility will be, based upon insurance coverages, along with deductibles, co-pays, and more. This can help your organization to manage revenue while informing patients of what their financial portion may be.

Epic Patient Access modules are available to seamlessly handle functions across the patient access and revenue cycle, providing quality records for future reference and much more.

At the heart of patient access processes: admission, transferring, and discharging. Epic Grand Central/Epic Prelude manages these functions from the time of a patient’s arrival until they depart with customizable planning functions, real time reporting, analytics and much more.

To further streamline these processes, healthcare facilities can have patients begin their registration at home by using MyChart online and then leveraging the technology of Epic Welcome Kiosk by having them finish the registration process in a self-service way on-site. This reduces stress on the patient and the provider.

Epic BedTime can shorten the patient wait time for a bed by optimizing the flow while Epic Cadence serves as an outpatient/speciality clinic scheduling module. Epic Security is used to provide safe and efficient usage of these modules.

You can combine these roles—analysts, application coordinators, instructional designers, project managers, program managers, directors, training professionals, and process documentation experts—with each of the Epic Patient Access modules. The result? A specialized professional to help you with the specific modules you need.

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Your Ultimate Guide to Epic Modules

Home > Insights > Your Ultimate Guide to Epic Modules

If you’ve ever heard of Epic Systems , you probably know how many modules they offer to provide a personalized experience for any specialty…

Read on to learn more about each module, as well as how your organization can benefit from them.

What is Epic Software?

Epic Systems offers specialized software solutions intended to help healthcare organizations improve operational efficiency, meet federal compliance requirements, and enhance the quality of patient care, regardless of their organization’s size, scope, or specialty.

The Epic software system is used in more than 250 healthcare organizations throughout the United States, and it is one of the leading technologies used for managing electronic health records (EHRs) and other important patient records in a single solution.

Whether you’re looking for additional support for your obstetrics department, better planning capabilities for cancer treatment plans, a more efficient way to schedule patient appointments, or anything in between, Epic software is sure to have a module to meet your needs.

List of Epic Modules

Epic Systems provides an integrated platform that helps streamline internal operations, seamlessly connect all areas of the patient experience, and improve the quality of patient care in a wide variety of healthcare facilities, including major hospital systems, private practices, and more.

Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of the major Epic modules, as well as where they fit in your healthcare organization…

Epic Ambulatory Module

EpicCare Ambulatory is one of the foremost modules within the entire Epic system. It’s used mostly in primary care and specialty clinics, and it helps providers place orders, send prescriptions, document patient visits, view test results, and communicate with patients.

Epic ASAP Module

Epic ASAP ER is a module designed to manage patient visits to the Emergency Room (ER). This ER-specific module not only helps nurses and doctors track room or bed status, but it also efficiently communicates with staff members by displaying statuses on monitors throughout the ER.

Epic Beacon Oncology Module

The Beacon Oncology module is built to simplify treatment plans for patients undergoing chemotherapy. While most other treatments within hospitals or health systems are considered inpatient or outpatient, cancer treatments fall under the umbrella of series visits, meaning they are continuous over a longer amount of time.

Epic Beaker Module

Epic Beaker is a module specific to managing hospital lab orders through an HL7 interface. Orders placed in other areas of the Epic system or other external systems or applications are transferred to the Beaker system with an HL7 processing interface. Beaker simplifies workflows between Epic and non-Epic systems and streamlines operations for clinical and anatomic pathology labs.

Epic Bones Module

Epic Bones is designed to support the care of orthopedic patient populations, including professional athletes, weekend warriors, and those with chronic conditions and track patient progress over time. With the Bones module, healthcare organizations can access the latest evidence-based information and improve orthopedic and sports medicine workflows to ensure patients receive the highest quality of care.

Epic Bridges Module

Bridges provides the functionality needed to configure, install, manage, and maintain interfaces that connect Epic to other external systems and applications. The Bridges module includes pre-built templates for HL7 and other healthcare communication protocols and standards to support interactions between fixed and non-standard clinical data.

Epic Bugsy Module

Epic Bugsy is an infection control module intended to monitor patients at risk for infection and proactively prevent the spread of infectious diseases throughout a hospital or healthcare facility. The Bugsy module not only helps identify patients in need of isolation, but it also makes reporting infections to disease registries easier and seamlessly integrates with Epic Beaker to streamline disease testing.

Epic Cadence Module

Epic Cadence is a module designed to simplify scheduling processes for outpatient and specialty clinics. With Cadence, staff members can easily book appointments, view schedules throughout the entire clinic, and check patients in upon arrival.

EpicCare Companion Module

EpicCare Companion is an application that acts as an extension of the Epic MyChart patient portal, providing an interactive, mobile-enabled plan of care and helping patients manage complex health conditions through health coaching, personalized education materials, and automated reminders.

Epic Cheers Module

Cheers is Epic’s customer relationship management (CRM) designed to help users keep up with changing patient needs, improve patient engagement and ownership, and offer a better experience for Epic staff members, doctors, and patients. With Cheers, users can leverage real-time feedback to manage patient sentiment, automate manual processes to save time, customize patient outreach strategies to meet patient needs, and more.

Epic Caboodle Module

Epic Caboodle (also known as Cogito Data Warehouse) is comprised of the internal data warehouse and advanced analytics tools used to manage, retrieve, and store large amounts of data throughout a clinical health system. Caboodle data warehouses can also integrate data from non-Epic systems to further improve predictive analysis, cost management, and decision-making processes.

Epic Clarity Module

Epic Clarity is a reporting database that provides an operational data store to support Epic’s clinical information system (CIS) and copy data from the Chronicles database, allowing analysts to create more detailed and complex reports. This eliminates the size and functionality limitations found in Epic’s Reporting Workbench and allows users to access data quickly and securely across the organization.

Epic ClinDoc Module

EpicCare ClinDoc (Inpatient) is a nursing documentation module that provides inpatient nursing staff with the necessary tools to document patient care in the hospital and manage a wide range of activities within the system, including clinical notes, orders, medication administration, patient monitoring, and discharge orders.

Epic Compass Rose Module

Epic Compass Rose is a comprehensive care coordination application used to assess social determinants of health, enroll patients in community-based programs, and track patient outcomes across the healthcare continuum. Through Compass Rose, physicians and other healthcare staff are able to view the clinic’s schedule and identify potential risks to patient populations.

Epic Cupid Module

Cupid is Epic’s module for cardiology management. It offers specialized tools designed to not only streamline cardiac care processes throughout your organization, but also facilitate integrations that bring readings from external EKG devices and patient electronic health record data together in one place.

EpicCare Everywhere Module

EpicCare Everywhere is a patient linkage tool within Epic Hyperspace that facilitates the exchange of electronic health records with outside organizations and ensure patient records are up to date and accurate to provide the best possible care for patients.

The Care Everywhere application makes it possible for healthcare providers to access information from other healthcare providers and specialty clinics, no matter where they are located. It also allows for information to be shared between main Epic servers and specialty clinics (and, vice versa) to provide a smoother transition of care for patients and providers.

Epic Grand Central Module

Epic Grand Central , formerly known as Epic ADT, streamlines the Admission-Discharge-Transfer process for patients within a healthcare facility. With Grand Central, organizations can manage hospital stays more efficiently and improve bed utilization for admitted patients.

Epic Haiku Module

Epic Haiku is the app available for Apple and Android users that allows medical providers to access and view a mobile version of EpicCare Ambulatory wherever and whenever they need it. Haiku gives users the opportunity to access schedules, view and respond to test results, access patient lists, and more through their own mobile device.

Epic Healthy Planet Module

Healthy Planet is Epic’s population health management solution designed to help providers receive reimbursements for positive patient outcomes and manage patient populations more efficiently. The Healthy Planet module is directly related to the Affordable Healthcare Act, and it provides dashboards, reports, and other tools to manage patient populations both in and apart from accountable care organizations (ACOs).

EpicCare Home Health Module

EpicCare Home Health (also known as Dorothy) is a module designed to facilitate better care in home health settings and provide a way for visiting caregivers to document care completed in a patient’s home. The Home Health module also allows care providers to complete documentation procedures without Internet connection, simplifying patient monitoring regardless of location.

Epic Kaleidoscope Module

Kaleidoscope is a module that streamlines Ophthalmology practices. With the Kaleidoscope module, optometrists and ophthalmologists can perform eye exams, write prescriptions for glasses or contacts, and document eye related procedures for patients.

Epic MyChart Module

Epic MyChart is a powerful tool that allows patients to access their medical records and healthcare data whenever and wherever it’s needed, including test results, information from past and future visits, medications, and orders. Physicians can also use MyChart to request appointments with patients and answer non-urgent medical questions at any time.

Epic MyChart Bedside Module

MyChart Bedside is an extension of Epic MyChart that provides additional features and capabilities to help healthcare providers streamline patient care and registration processes. MyChart Bedside is particularly useful for cardiology practices, outpatient day surgery, and inpatient nursing staff as it helps healthcare providers register and manage patients more efficiently and offers integrated access to external EKG devices.

Epic OpTime Module

Epic OpTime is designed to give users a more efficient way to improve operating room (OR) utilization, availability, and functionality, and enhance documentation processes for data in operating facilities. OpTime has capabilities for managing both inpatient and outpatient day surgery.

Epic Prelude Module

Prelude (also known as ADT Patient Registration) is Epic’s patient registration module designed to cover hospital registration and insurance management functions throughout healthcare facilities. The Prelude module works hand-in-hand with Epic Cadence and helps users track patient status more efficiently.

Epic Radiant Module

Epic Radiant is a module built to provide documentation, image viewing, and film tracking functionality for members of an organization’s Radiology department.

Epic Resolute Module

Epic Resolute covers both Hospital Billing (HB) and Professional Billing (PB) by providing a comprehensive tool that helps collect and review charges, conduct billing processes, follow up on outstanding accounts, and collect payment for patient care.

Epic Rover Module

Epic Rover is part of Epic’s integrated suite of applications and is designed to better manage multiple, disparate systems by providing clinicians with a single, unified view of their patients’ electronic health record (EHR) data.

The Rover application allows healthcare organizations to integrate non-Epic systems with their main Epic servers, allowing for greater data sharing and access to reduce organizational costs, improve patient outcomes, and enhance patient and provider engagement.

Epic Stork Module

Stork is Epic’s Obstetrics management module that makes managing pregnancy episodes for outpatient facilities and documenting deliveries in the hospital easier.

Epic Willow Module

Willow is Epic’s pharmacy application intended to streamline workflows for healthcare providers within a centralized pharmacy. Epic Willow not only helps providers keep better track of medications through a central pharmacy, but it also offers both inpatient and outpatient versions to facilitate better care both within hospital walls and beyond.

How Can We Help?

Interested in learning more about Epic modules and where they can fit in your organization? Surety Systems is here to help! Know you want to implement Epic, but don’t know where to begin? We’ve got you covered there too.

Our team of senior-level Epic consultants has the technical knowledge and functional expertise needed to lead you to success, regardless of the size, scale, or scope of your organization.

Contact us today to learn more or get started with one of our Epic experts!

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Epic Systems Modules & Software – Hyperspace, Healthy Planet, ClinDoc

Epic Systems is a major provider of electronic health records software for large and medium-sized organizations. They were founded in 1979 by Judy Faulkner, who continues to lead the company. They are based in Verona, WI and sit on a massive 950 acre campus. They are privately-held, and have vowed to never be sold, to never to go public, and to never acquire other companies.

A key reason why Epic Systems has become a technology leader with healthcare organizations is that they built an integrated platform for almost all areas of care. When Epic sees the need to advance technology in a new specialty, let’s say Eye Care for example- they take the time to develop what they call “modules”, built on the same platform and data structure as all of their other products. Here is a breakdown of the major Epic Systems modules that they have released, along with the areas where they are used:

ASAP ER Module

ASAP is the Epic software module that deals with managing ER visits. It has a component that tracks which rooms are occupied, displaying room and bed status on monitors that are mounted on the walls near the nursing stations.

EpicCare Ambulatory

EpicCare Ambulatory is one of the main and largest components of the Epic platform. Primary Care and Specialty clinicians use the Ambulatory Module to document visits, place orders, send prescriptions, perform in-office procedures, review results, and send communications to patients .

Epic Beacon Oncology

Beacon Oncology is the chemotherapy module in the Epic software family. It is built around treatment plans for patients who are undergoing cancer treatment. Whereas most patient visits are either Outpatient or Inpatient, these visits are considered Series Visit Types , which span a longer amount of time.

Epic Bugsy (Infection Control)

Bugsy is the infection control module for Epic. It provides tools to monitor patients at risk for infection, identifies patients needing isolation, and with antimicrobial processes. It also helps with reporting infections to regulatory registries and other entities. Bugsy also integrates with Beaker, Epic’s lab product.

Epic Beaker

Epic Beaker is the laboratory system for a hospital lab. Orders that are placed either in other parts of Epic or in an external system are transmitted to Beaker via an HL7 Interface 1 for processing. When patients arrive to have their blood drawn, the results are entered into Beaker , which then get transmitted back to the ordering doctor.

The Bones module is Epic’s offering for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.

Epic Bridges

Epic Bridges is the module for installing, configuring and maintaining interfaces to systems outside of Epic. There are tools to set up the interface connections either to or from other interfaces, as well as monitoring of interface messages. Bridges supports HL7 interfaces , as well as other communications protocols.

Epic Caboodle – aka Cogito Data Warehouse

This area of Epic software refers to the data warehouse and analytical tools used to store and retrieve large amounts of clinical data. The data can be queried to provide all manner of reporting to support care decisions, manage costs, and identify trends. Other data can be brought in from non-Epic systems, and then used along with Epic data to provide reporting results. Until mid-2016, the trade name for these tools was Cogito, from the Latin phrase  ergo sum : “I think, therefore I am”. In mid-2016, Epic renamed it to “Cabooble”, ie Kit & Caboodle. Get it?

Epic Cadence

Cadence is the Epic scheduling module for Outpatient and Specialty clinics. Any time you have an appointment with your doctor, their scheduling staff will use Cadence to book your appointment, then check you in on arrival. The physicians and other staff are able to see the schedule for the whole clinic, or just for their own patients. Many scheduling functions are performed from the Epic Snapboard, which is configured to show appointments for multiple providers in a department.

Epic Care Companion

Care Companion is an extension of the MyChart patient portal. It provides health coaching, education, and reminders to patients via MyChart to help them manage complex health conditions. For example, a patient with diabetes would get reminders to take medications on time, get lab work done, schedule periodic eye and foot exams, and monitor their diet and glucose.

Epic Care Everywhere

Care Everywhere is the network by which patient records are shared between different Healthcare organizations that use Epic. If you receive care at an Epic hospital in say, New York for example, then move to another state or even another country, your new care providers can run a Care Everywhere query from their instance of Epic to pull in your records from your previous providers. Care Everywhere  operates as a Health Information Exchange .

Epic Compass Rose

Compass Rose is a module that works to increase care coordination for patient populations. It is an extension of Healthy Planet, the population health suite, and it works to address social determinants of health, connect caregivers to support networks, help to connect people to community services, identify risks, and measure outcomes.

Epic Cosmos

Cosmos is the artificial intelligence tool that works to collect billions of clinical data points from Epic organizations to help providers answer clinical questions. It is designed to help medical specialties to form a more complete picture of patients’ health.

Epic Chronicles

Chronicles is the main database that runs much of the Epic software. Epic provides Healthcare clients with tools to run queries, maintain the database, and run reports. Chronicles is a non-relational database that sends data to Clarity, which is a relational database, and is used for advanced reporting.

Epic Clarity

Much of the data that is stored in the Chronicles database gets copied over to Clarity, which is a relational database that allows analysts to create more detailed and complex reports. Reports written against the Chronicles database are done using reporting workbench, which has data size and functionality limitations that do not exist with Clarity reports..

EpicCare ClinDoc (Inpatient)

EpicCare Inpatient, also known as ClinDoc is much like EpicCare Ambulatory, except that the clinical tasks are done in the hospital on admitted patients. This includes clinical notes, orders, medication administration, patient monitoring, and discharge orders.

Epic Cogito

Cogito is the name for the complete suite of Epic reporting tools. This includes the data warehouse, the dashboards used in many areas of Epic, Reporting Workbench, the Clarity data structure, and teh Chronicles data structure.

Epic Community Connect

Epic has provided a unique opportunity to allow large healthcare organizations to “sub-let” their Epic system to smaller organizations at a fee. For example, you may have a physician office with a handful of providers who would not be able to afford to purchase the Epic software on their own. A local large hospital system will organize a team to handle the entire project of software and hardware configuration, training, and maintenance. The hosting organizations typically charge a monthly per-provider fee.

Epic Cupid is the module for Cardiology practices. There are special clinical tools focused on cardiology care. Epic can also integrate  or interface with external EKG devices to bring the EKG readings into the medical record.

Epic Data Courier

Data courier is a utility used by Epic analysts and technical staff to move configuration changes between different environments. For example, an analyst will make changes in the POC (proof of concept) environment, then use data courier to move those changes to the test (TST) environment for testing. After testing, data courier will be used to migrate the changes to production (PRD). More on how IT environments are structured .

Epic Financial Assistance

The financial assistance module helps organizations that provide financial assistance to patients. It has financial counseling workflow tools to help capture financial counseling information and track discounts given to patients.

Epic Garden Plot

Garden plot is a little like Community Connect, in which a smaller organization is able to rent the EHR software from a larger hospital group. Garden Plot, however is leased to the client by Epic themselves, and the organization must be larger than 40 providers.

Epic Happy Together

Happy Together is Epic’s effort toward communicating clinical information across different systems, including data from competing vendors. Happy Together is implemented to help clinicians and patients. For clinicians, it provides a complete view of patients’ care across various organizations. Many patients use Epic’s patient portal MyChart at more than one Epic location, such as a primary care office from one organization, and a specialist from another. Happy Together enables patients to see their clinical data from multiple locations in one MyChart session.

EpicCare Home Health – (Dorothy)

Also known as Dorothy (from The Wizard of Oz) this is the module used in a home health setting, in which visiting caregivers (Nurse, Nurse Aides, PT, OT, etc) document care done in a patient’s home. Clinicians use a version of Epic called remote client that is installed on their local laptops. This program allows them to document in settings where they might not have any internet connection. Then after they finish their work, they can reconnect to their organization’s network and perform a sync that uploads their documentation to the main Epic servers.

Epic Hyperspace

Epic Hyperspace is not a clinical module in itself, but rather the actual application client that is presented to users of most areas of Epic. When a nurse, doctor, therapist, or administrative staff launch Epic, the front-end software that is presented to them is called Hyperspace. It is typically installed on hosted servers that are accessed by many workstations throughout an enterprise, rather than being installed on individual users’ PCs. Citrix is commonly used to host Hyperspace.

Since it is a core component of the Epic software system, upgrades almost always include an update of Hyperspace. Epic Hyperspace is configured to display different menus, tasks, and options to users depending on their specific roles. For example, a pharmacist will be presented with many medication-related options, while a family practice physician will be presented with options to document clinical visits, place orders, and perform other clinically relevant tasks.

Epic Hyperdrive

Introduced in 2023, Hyperdrive is Epic’s next generation version of the front-end application accessed by most end-users of Epic. It replaces Hyperspace for many clinical and operational functions. It is web-based code base that is intended to assist Epic developers in current and future development of features and functions, and it has some cosmetic improvements over Hyperspace.

Epic Haiku is an App for Android and Apple that allows doctors to access a limited version of EpicCare Ambulatory. They can see and respond to test results, access their schedule, and see other clinical data on their patients.

Epic Healthy Planet

Healthy Planet is Epic’s Population Management system to help organizations deliver better care for a given population of patients. It is a direct outcome of the Affordable Healthcare Act, which established voluntary entities called Accountable Care Organizations . An ACO is set up to pay providers not just for delivering services, but for the healthy outcome of the patients who are enrolled in the ACO. Healthy Planet  provides a suite of reports, dashboards, and workflow tools that allow Care Managers to manage patient populations in and apart from ACOs.

Epic Lumens

Lumens is the reporting module for endoscopy. It provides tools for viewing and managing endoscopy images sent to Epic by external endoscopy systems.

Healthy Planet Link

EpicCare Link enables outside health organizations to log into a web-based portal to see patient information from the Epic system of a larger Healthcare organization. Healthy Planet Link then extends some population health features to those outside entities. Those organizations can view risk scores and reports on their common patients.

Epic Kaleidoscope

Epic Kaleidoscope is the Ophthalmology (Eye Care) module for Epic. It allows Ophthalmologists and Optometrists to perform eye exams, document eye related procedures, and write contact lens and eyeglass prescriptions.

EpicCare Link

When a hospital or other healthcare enterprise installs Epic software, they typically interact with community physicians who do not have Epic, many of which do not have any electronic medical record system. EpicCare Link allows those providers to be given access to a web-based portal, allowing them to have limited use of the EMR to view activity on their patients who have received care at the associated hospital. It is usually configured to provide read-only access, meaning the external provider cannot place orders or do other clinical activity.

Lucy is not exactly a module, but is a concept of allowing patients to download and print their medical record in a usable format. This is called a Continuity of Care Document  (CCD), and is considered a form of a personal health record.

Epic MyChart

MyChart is the web-based system that allows patients to manage their medical care in many ways. They can view test results, past and future visits, orders, medications, and more. They can also request appointments with physicians and ask non-urgent medical questions. A supporting App for Android and Apple is also available. Also, a newer feature that is beginning to emerge is the ability to conduct video visits with physicians. More about patient portals .

MyChart Bedside

Where MyChart is focused mainly on the outpatient and specialty parts of the patient record, MyChart bedside is intended for use while a patient is admitted to the hospital. It provides online tools for tracking your progress toward discharge, and can be configured to provide patient education material.

Epic Open Scheduling

While a MyChart user needs to have registered before scheduling through that portal, Epic’s Open Scheduling feature allows organizations to publish a web URL that allows anyone to enter a request to be seen. A MyChart account is not needed. It is commonly used for routine scheduled procedures like mammograms. The patient will be required to answer a few medical and history questions, and then will be able to pick an appointment date and time. Even though the web page appears to be separate from MyChart or the rest of the system, the scheduling info is still sent to the main Epic system for staff to manage.

Epic OpTime

Epic OpTime is the Operating Room/ Surgery module for Epic. It has components for Inpatient Surgery as well as Outpatient Day Surgery.

Epic Payer Platform

Payer Platform is a module that allows healthcare organizations to exchange clinical information with insurance carriers to facilitate prior authorization and payment for services.

Epic Pedigree

Pedigree is Epic’s module to capture and analyze genetic information. Clinicians can build a family tree, manage family history, and get information on genetically related conditions.

Epic Phoenix

Phoenix is the module that supports organ transplants. Phoenix helps clinicians to keep track of follow-up tasks for recipients such as ongoing lab tests, rejection prevention and treatment, and medication management.

Epic Prelude (ADT Patient Registration)

ADT stands for Admission, Discharge, Transfer. ADT is a critical part of the entire organization’s system because this is where the key information and status of all patients is managed. The Prelude module covers the hospital registration and insurance functions. ADT is also referred to as Grand Central.

Radar is the dashboard configuration that is shared across almost all other Epic modules. Dashboards support reports, graphs, performance measures, helpful links, and much more pertaining to each area. For example, an OB dashboard will have measures relating to C-Section rates and number of births.

Epic Radiant

Epic Radiant is the Radiology module for Epic. It provides documentation, film tracking, and viewing of Radiology images.

Epic Slicer Dicer

Slicer Dicer is a visual reporting tool within Epic that allows non-technical users to easily create clinical reports by moving around reporting components in an editor. It works a bit like Crystal Reports or similar tools but has an easier user interface.

Epic Sonnet

Epic Sonnet is a trimmed-down version of the main clinical application that is aimed at smaller organizations that cannot afford or don’t need the full-featured version. Epic will offer Sonnet to organizations as a software service hosted at their campus data center in Verona, WI.

Reporting Workbench

This is Epic’s application-side reporting solution which allows IT analysts to create and manage reports on date from most parts of the system. Users work from templates to get data on patient lists, orders, appointments, diagnoses, and much more. In Reporting Workbench , users do not run SQL queries to the database, as the tool is visually oriented.

Epic Rover is the module that uses mobile devices to allow Inpatient nursing staff to do review and documentation tasks. Some of the functions that Rover helps with are chart review, medication administration, flowsheet documentation, and recording patient photos. It is not intended to take the place of Epic Hyperspace, the standard client for accessing clinical functions.

Epic Stork is the Obstetrics module for managing pregnancy episodes on the Outpatient side, and documenting deliveries in the hospital.

Epic Tapestry

Tapestry provides managed care administration, enabling organizations to enroll members, bill for insurance premiums, process referrals, and pay claims. It works within several different payment structures such as ACOs and various types of health plans.

Epic UserWeb

UserWeb is not a product used by clinicians, but is the web portal used by customers of Epic. It is used by analysts, project managers, resource managers, executives and others to access documentation, training, issue management and other tools for managing the system.

Epic Welcome Kiosk

The Welcome Kiosk is about the size and shape of a small ATM, and allows patients to check in for appointments, pay co-pay amounts, sign documents, and print receipts and other materials.

Epic Willow

Willow is the module which is used for the management of medications from a central pharmacy. It owns the core database of medications and the processes around medication cart filling and patient prescriptions. There are Inpatient and Ambulatory versions of Willow. The Inpatient side is implemented in a hospital pharmacy, and Ambulatory Willow is for outpatient and retail pharmacies.

Epic Wisdom

Wisdom is the Epic solution for dentists, dental hygienists, and dental assistants. It has tools for periodontal charting, tooth health charting, scheduling, treatment plans, and risk assessments.