How to get your app into Epic
Two different "into Epic" paths (do not mix them)
Almost every confused timeline comes from mixing two unrelated paths.
Clinician EHR launch — the subject of this page. Your app opens in-chart with the current patient (and usually encounter) in context, uses hospital-scoped credentials, commonly writes data back, and is covered by a Business Associate Agreement.
Patient USCDI distribution — the Medblocks-style Automatic Client Record Distribution route people cite as "~48 hours." That path is patient-facing, read-only against the USCDI data set, and patient-authorized. It is not a clinician SMART launch, not write-back, and not a BAA-covered hospital deploy. If someone promises you every Epic hospital in two days, they are describing this other path.
What Epic actually requires
- Enroll in Epic's developer program (Vendor Services) and register your application on open.epic to get a client ID.
- Build and test against Epic's sandbox using SMART App Launch and FHIR R4.
- License and go live with a real customer. Epic is federated — each hospital runs its own instance, issues its own production client ID, and provisions the app itself.
- Then, optionally, record the connection and pursue an Epic Showroom listing for multi-hospital distribution.
App Orchard is retired; it was restructured into Showroom plus Vendor Services. See what the Epic Showroom is for the history in one place.
The live-customer gate
The gate that matters is a hospital willing to license your app and put it in their Epic instance. That is what produces production credentials, a real FHIR base URL, and a recorded connection. A Showroom listing before a live customer buys you a catalog entry and nothing else — and a hospital can deploy you without one.
Vendor Services vs Connection Hub vs Showroom
- Vendor Services — developer enrollment: the agreement, sandboxes, client IDs, and technical documentation.
- Connection Hub — where live customer connections are recorded and managed once you are actually deployed somewhere.
- Epic Showroom — the customer-facing catalog where hospitals discover, evaluate, and request third-party products. Optional after a live connection; needed in practice for multi-hospital third-party distribution.
What still sits on you after the client ID exists
- HIPAA-eligible hosting for the launch URL and redirect URIs, and a signed BAA.
- A SOC 2 Type II report and an evidence packet each hospital's security team will read — see the security review reality.
- A per-hospital security questionnaire, often 200+ questions, every time.
- Correct SMART scopes, patient/encounter context handling, and write-back behavior.
- Quarterly Epic maintenance as Epic ships version and API changes.
A Showroom listing does none of this. It does not host, does not sign a BAA, and does not maintain your integration.
Realistic sequence (ranges, not a single week)
- Developer enrollment and sandbox: days to a couple of weeks.
- App built and launching in the sandbox: weeks, depending on scope.
- Hospital security review, BAA, and IT provisioning: the long pole, and it is the hospital's calendar, not yours.
- Showroom: intake typically weeks 1–3 once you file; Epic's review commonly weeks 2–8 after that. Never quote it as a single week, and never present it as Epic's SLA.
Why the calendar behaves this way is its own page: why Epic integration takes so long.
Where a compliant runtime fits
You can build the hosting, compliance, and launch plumbing yourself — most vendors do, and it is the part that repeats at every hospital. A runtime absorbs it once so hospital ten is configuration rather than a rerun of hospital one. Details in getting started, auth, and Showroom submission. If you want to see it running today, the apps catalog lists vendors launching in Epic on SoFaaS™ right now. Vendor-fit detail lives on /for-vendors, and if you want to talk it through, talk to us.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an Epic Showroom listing to go live at a hospital?
No. A listing is optional after you have a live customer connection. Epic is federated: a hospital can license and provision your app in its own Epic instance without a Showroom listing. The listing is what you need for multi-hospital third-party distribution — it makes your app discoverable and requestable, not deployable.
What is Epic Connection Hub vs Showroom vs Vendor Services?
Vendor Services is developer enrollment: the agreement, the sandbox, and the client IDs you register on open.epic. Connection Hub is where a live customer connection is recorded and managed. Epic Showroom is the customer-facing catalog where hospitals discover and request third-party products. Different objects, different stages — none of them host your app or sign a BAA.
Can I get into every Epic hospital in 48 hours?
No. The ~48-hour path people cite is Epic's Automatic Client Record Distribution for patient-facing, USCDI read-only apps. That is not a clinician SMART launch, not write-back, and not a BAA-covered hospital deploy. Clinician-facing in-chart apps take the licensing, security review, and provisioning path described on this page.
Is App Orchard still the program I join?
No. App Orchard was retired and restructured into Epic Showroom (the customer-facing catalog) plus Vendor Services (developer enrollment and sandboxes).
Does Epic have one endpoint my app can hit?
No. Epic is federated. Each customer runs its own Epic instance with its own FHIR base URL, its own credentials, and its own IT and security process. There is no single central Epic endpoint that reaches every hospital.
What's the difference between clinician SMART launch and a patient USCDI app?
A clinician SMART launch runs in-chart with patient and encounter context, uses hospital-scoped credentials, usually writes data back, and is covered by a BAA. A patient USCDI app is patient-authorized, read-only against the certified data set, and distributed through a different, much faster Epic mechanism. They are separate paths with separate requirements.
Have a deal stuck on Epic?
SoFaaS™ is the compliant runtime that ships SMART on FHIR apps into Epic in weeks, not quarters.
Talk to us