Epic Consulting & Integration

Epic integration projects typically cost $30,000 to $250,000+, depending on integration type and scope. A standalone Epic Showroom (formerly App Orchard) application certification — including SMART on FHIR launch, security review, and Marketplace submission — runs $30K to $80K. Bidirectional Epic FHIR R4 integrations with custom workflows fall in the $75K to $250K range. Enterprise-wide Epic Bridges work (multi-interface HL7 v2 deployments, Care Everywhere extensions, custom MyChart integration) can exceed $500K. Key cost drivers: number of Epic instances, Vendor Services tier required, sandbox availability, hospital site participation, and whether the project requires Epic Hyperspace customization. Contact our Epic team for a scoped estimate.

Epic integration services encompass the design, development, testing, and deployment of technical connections between Epic's EHR platform and external systems. This includes building FHIR R4 APIs for clinical data exchange, developing SMART on FHIR applications that run within Epic Hyperspace, configuring HL7 v2 interfaces through Epic Bridges, and publishing applications to Epic Showroom (formerly App Orchard). Integration partners like Saga IT handle the full lifecycle — from initial scope definition and sandbox development through Epic's security review and production go-live.

SMART on FHIR is an open standard that defines how third-party applications securely launch within an EHR and access clinical data via FHIR APIs. With Epic, the process follows a four-step OAuth 2.0 flow: the app launches from Hyperspace or MyChart with clinical context, redirects to Epic's authorization server to request data scopes, exchanges an authorization code for an access token, and then queries Epic's FHIR R4 endpoint with that token. Epic enforces strict scope validation against the app’s Vendor Services registration, and all SMART apps must pass Epic's security review before production deployment.

Epic Showroom (formerly App Orchard) is Epic's marketplace where third-party applications, built through the Epic Vendor Services developer program, are listed for Epic customer organizations to discover and activate. Getting listed requires completing Epic's application questionnaire, passing a technical security review, demonstrating FHIR API compliance, and meeting Epic's policies for data handling and privacy. The review process typically takes 8 to 16 weeks depending on application complexity and the scope of FHIR resources accessed. Saga IT guides vendors through the entire submission lifecycle, from initial application through ongoing compliance with Epic's recertification requirements.

Timeline depends on the integration type and complexity. A straightforward FHIR R4 API integration with read-only patient data access can be completed in 6 to 10 weeks, including sandbox development, testing, and Epic certification. SMART on FHIR applications with bidirectional data exchange typically take 12 to 20 weeks. Full Showroom listing through Epic Vendor Services adds 8 to 16 weeks for Epic's review process. HL7 v2 interface development through Epic Bridges generally takes 4 to 8 weeks per interface. Data migration projects for Epic go-lives vary significantly based on the source system and data volume, but typically span 3 to 6 months.

HL7 v2 is a legacy messaging standard that uses pipe-delimited segments transmitted over TCP/MLLP connections — it has been the backbone of healthcare integration for 30 years and remains essential for ADT feeds, lab orders, and results. Epic FHIR R4 is a modern RESTful API standard using JSON resources over HTTPS, designed for web and mobile application development. FHIR R4 supports fine-grained resource access with OAuth 2.0 security, while HL7 v2 operates on a push-based event model. Most Epic environments use both: FHIR R4 for new application integrations and SMART apps, and HL7 v2 for high-volume, real-time clinical message flows through Epic Bridges.

Saga IT has extensive experience building and certifying integrations within Epic's ecosystem, including FHIR R4 API development, SMART on FHIR application deployment, and Epic Vendor Services / Showroom listing support. Our team has delivered hundreds of Epic integrations across health systems of varying size, from community hospitals to large academic medical centers. We are deeply familiar with Epic's security review process, vendor certification policies, and the technical requirements for production FHIR and HL7 v2 connectivity. We work as your integration partner to navigate Epic's certification requirements and ensure your application meets all of Epic's standards for production deployment.

Epic Care Everywhere is Epic's health information exchange network that enables clinical data sharing between Epic organizations and external health systems through Carequality, CommonWell, and TEFCA. Saga IT helps healthcare organizations optimize Care Everywhere configuration, troubleshoot query failures, and integrate exchange data with clinical and analytics workflows.

The United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) is a standardized set of health data classes and elements required for interoperable exchange under the 21st Century Cures Act. USCDI v6 (finalized July 2025) is the current published version, and USCDI v7 is in draft. Each successive version expands the required data elements — adding things like additional clinical notes, social determinants of health, treatment plans, and health insurance information. For Epic integrations, this means FHIR R4 APIs must support a broader set of resources and data elements in their responses, particularly for patient access and provider directory use cases. Epic updates its FHIR API surface to align with each USCDI version, so applications built on Epic's FHIR endpoints need to handle the expanded data set and conform to updated US Core FHIR profiles.