What We’ve Learned from Being in the Epic App Orchard for 4 Years

For the past four years, HealthPay24 has been a proud member of the Epic App Orchard. Launched in 2017, Epic introduced the App Orchard to make it easier for vendors to integrate with their EHR. However, our relationship with Epic truly began 12 years ago when we had our first foray into Epic integrations of HL7s and flat files. At the onset, there wasn’t a formal program in place to work directly with Epic. This had to be done through a client.  

Fast forward to 2017, we became one of the first companies to participate in Epic’s App Orchard, making it easier and more seamless to integrate our healthcare payment solution with Epic’s tools. This long-standing relationship with the widely used healthcare software company has provided us with a great deal of insight and invaluable access that gives us a leg up on our competition.  

Staying Ahead of the Game

As one of the first companies to be a part of the Epic App Orchard, we had the opportunity to learn and journey with them, while also having the ability to provide input for their team when necessary. Having that opportunity to interact with them around some of the struggles their interface presented initially was paramount to our success. 

Another benefit of being a part of the App Orchard is having first-hand access to resources and developers at Epic, which allows us to resolve issues much faster for our customers. Additionally, with access to their product team, we have knowledge of their roadmap and future development plans. This allows us to stay ahead of the game from a technology and product standpoint as we look at new integrations that we can offer our customers. 

That being said, we continue to seek ways to provide healthcare payment solutions for our customers that reach beyond the basics of existing interfaces so we can differentiate ourselves through what we’re able to offer and ultimately give our customers more. 

Integrating with Epic vs. Being a Part of the Epic App Orchard

You might hear companies tout that they integrate with Epic, but is integrating with their tools enough? Why is being a part of the Epic App Orchard beneficial? The simple answer is that it brings validity to the solution we offer.  

Prior to the app orchard, when we did our first integration, there was no official process or check. We got the API and integrated with our customer’s site, but there wasn’t a certification process in place. Now, Epic has a test site where we can submit a transaction and they look to see if everything is processed as expected and that everything looks clean. 

Essentially, it assures users that as an available app, we have gone through a certification process and have met the minimum requirements that Epic has set forth, ensuring our integration meets their standards. 

Rigorous Privacy and Security Protocols

In addition to meeting their minimum requirements, Epic also asks us a series of questions in order to validate HealthPay24 as an organization. 

Through a lengthy questionnaire, we are asked security and safety questions around what happens in the event of a critical issue, how we track bugs, how we account for privacy in terms of data we’re interacting with, whether it’s reliable and scannable, if there are issues with our system going down, etc. 

The security of patients is paramount, and Epic wants to know whether our app could potentially mislead a patient and the data that it presents into making a decision that could somehow be harmful to the patient. 

On top of the security questionnaire, we are also required to submit a self-audit every six months to ensure we are still compliant with Epic’s agreements and meeting the minimum enrollment criteria. 

HealthPay24 sets high standards for itself to deliver superior payment security, and the additional validations that Epic puts in place helps to solidify this to Epic users. 

Commitment to the Epic EHR Community

HealthPay24’s presence in the APP Orchard further solidifies its commitment to the Epic EHR community and to meet the growing needs of its enterprise and MyChart users. Learn more about our integration with Epic.