Epic unveils new interoperability standards ahead of mandated timeline

Just days after Oracle stepped into the spotlight to announce its interoperability plans and showcase its newest AI-driven bells and whistles, Epic Systems is back on center stage with a cheeky nod to Oracle’s TEFCA intentions…and some major interoperability news of its own. 

The Verona, Wisconsin company says it has rolled out an expanded set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that support Version 3 of the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI v3) – a capability that isn’t technically required of the industry until December 2025. 

The USCDI is a standardized set of data classes and data elements that represents the “floor” of data exchange between electronic health records. Pursuant to the 2016 Cures Act, approved EHR products must be able to share these elements through certain APIs to better coordinate care between disparate systems. 

The dataset is being updated and expanded over time to reflect providers’ needs to better understand their patients, as well as to support patient-facing apps and feed the growing number of AI and analytics models that are continually thirsty for standardized information to generate population-level insights. 

The latest iteration of the USCDI continues to make incremental improvements, with 24 new data elements across 6 data categories, including some potentially promising changes to the way providers can collect and leverage information around the social determinants of health (SDOH). 

Version 2 already contained an “SDOH intervention” element, which allows providers to record activities related to socioeconomic barriers, such as “offered education about Meals on Wheels” or “referred to transportation support programs.” With a little bit of creativity and cleanup work, these elements could give analysts some insight into the patient challenges that prompted these referrals. 

But Version 3 eliminates some of that guesswork by offering a new “reason for referral” element, which could create more standardized information on the prevalence specific root causes of socioeconomic challenges – something that has long been missing from efforts to integrate non-clinical care with traditional services. 

Just this one new data point alone, when made accessible through APIs from the EHR to other systems, could open up more effective ways to understand and address the needs of patients in more forward-thinking, person-centered ways, says Epic. 

“Reliable access to Social Drivers of Health will make a real difference in people’s lives,” said Mike Pontillo, Implementation Executive at Epic. “As an example use case, a health coach app could proactively connect a patient to a food bank or transportation assistance program based on data that the app can now receive.”  

The early rollout also makes other key data elements available, including tribal affiliation, disability status, and caregiver relationships, which can help providers form more complete portraits of individuals and their relationships inside and outside of the healthcare system. 

The company says that APIs for access to all of the USCDI v3’s data elements are now available via Epic’s self-serve library. Future efforts from Epic and others will bring USCDI v4 and v5 into the picture as the nation continues to advance its ability to codify and share important data on patients. 

Jennifer Bresnick is a journalist and freelance content creator with a decade of experience in the health IT industry.  Her work has focused on leveraging innovative technology tools to create value, improve health equity, and achieve the promises of the learning health system.  She can be reached at jennifer@inklesscreative.com.