How to Get Epic Certified

Partnering With Growing Hospitals for EPIC Support for Over 25 Years

Epic is a leading electronic health record (EHR) system, and plenty of benefits exist when you become certified. Some professionals seek certification because they work in a healthcare environment that uses this robust application while others want to offer Epic consulting services. No matter why you’re interested in becoming certified in Epic, it’s a valuable skill to possess.

Employee Sponsorship

First, to get certified, you must be sponsored by an employer. As an individual, you can’t simply sign up for classes. If you already work in a healthcare organization, especially in an IT role, you may be able to simply approach your human resources department or supervisor. Share your interest in Epic and explain how becoming certified would enhance your ability to help your workplace.

Epic is used in a broad range of healthcare settings, including medical/academic institutions, hospitals, hospice centers, rehab clinics, skilled nursing facilities, dental clinics, mental healthcare providers, community-based healthcare facilities, and much more. So, if you’re working for this type of employer, ask about certification opportunities. If you’re job hunting, you could include this item on your wish list when applying at places.

As another route, if you work for a technology firm that provides consulting services to healthcare facilities, you could ask that employer to sponsor you. As one more route to consider, you could check the job board at Epic. If they’ve listed a job you’d qualify for, once you become an employee, you could ask to become certified in the application.

Module Specialization

Epic is a robust application with significant numbers of customizable modules. When becoming certified, you’ll learn about the structure of the overall software and how it operates—but you’ll also want to specialize in specific modules. If you’re an employee of a healthcare facility, what you select as a focus will depend upon what modules your organization is using or plans to add.

If, for example, you provide IT services for an obstetrics unit that is migrating to Epic, you’ll want expertise in Stork; in a cardiology unit, Cupid; in an ophthalmology center, Kaleidoscope; and so forth. Here are main types:

• Clinical modules
• Patient access modules
• Revenue cycle modules
• Managed care modules
• Analytics and business intelligence modules
• Data warehousing modules
• Access modules
• Specialty and ancillary modules

If you’re providing services for an Epic consulting company, you’ll likely want to specialize in the more in-demand modules or ones where there aren’t enough Epic consultants to provide services. Surveys exist online with rankings of the most popular Epic modules, but the lists are not up to date—and Epic steadily evolves and grows to meet new demand, definitely not being a company that’s content to rest on its laurels.

For example, Epic recently launched two new modules and is in the pre-launch stage of another one. So, there are fewer Epic consultants with expertise in them because they’re so new:

• Epic Cheers: This module debuted in March 2022 and will help people to access direct healthcare while also streamlining the intake process. Patients can remain connected to their healthcare providers even when not in a doctor’s office or hospital. Healthcare organizations will gain deep yet transparent insights into the populations they serve.
• Epic Garden Plot: Debuting in May 2022, this module will empower smaller medical groups to create and manage patient records in a holistic manner. Doctors in independent medical groups can benefit from this software in ways targeted for their size and usage, filling in the gap for medical groups that can’t use Community Connect to extend Epic usage.
• Epic Best Care for My Patient: Slated to go live in early 2023, this module will enable healthcare providers to conveniently find and leverage best care practices. Using real-world data from 135 million-plus de-identified patient records, healthcare providers can enhance decision making and patient care. They can shape big data to individual circumstances.

Certification Trainings and Exams

After being sponsored by a workplace and becoming accepted into an Epic training program, courses last six to eight weeks, focusing on the modules you’ve selected. Then, you’ll need to pass the appropriate certification exams.

Specialized Epic Consulting Services

Once certified, Epic consultants can specialize in a wide range of services. They include the following:

• Project management: Epic implementations can be complex processes over a period of several months to a couple of years. Healthcare organizations therefore often need an Epic professional to oversee the project: from human resources to financial management and more.
• Implementation, optimization, and integration: Modules can be tailored in a variety of ways to dovetail with a healthcare organization’s workflows. You may decide to become one of the Epic consultants who focuses on these processes to maximize usage.
• Process documentation and training programs: From capturing process documentation in user-friendly ways to designing role-based programs to teach end users how to confidently use the Epic modules, this is one of the in-demand Epic consulting services today.
• Go-live and post-go-live support: Healthcare organizations often like for experienced Epic consultants to test modules before crossing over to the new application and to provide their IT teams and end users with quality support.

Larry Hodge

PRESIDENT/CEO AT HEALTHTECH RESOURCES

Larry has specialized in building strategic healthcare relationships for over 25 years, helping the nation’s top payors and providers solve some of their most pressing business challenges through an intelligent mix of staffing services, training, and consulting.