SPARCRequest and Epic Interface Information
A fully integrated interface between SPARCRequest and Epic has been developed under the promotion of the Medical University of South Carolina. Rollout with Epic enterprise went live in July 2014.
The purpose of SPARCRequest having an Electronic Health Record (EHR) Interface with Epic (as shown in Figure 1):
Easier creation of research protocol and billing calendar outside Epic
Uniform research pricing and improved billing compliance
Reduce manual and duplicative data entry
Improve data consistency across systems
Comprehensive reporting
Enhance communication across providers
User/research provider management
Figure 1 Functionality and Overlap between SPARCRequest and Epic
Information pushed from SPARCRequest to Epic mainly comes from the Study Information and Authorized Users sections (see Figure 2) and the study calendar section (see Figure 3) of SPARCRequest, which helps build the following pieces in Epic:
Research study administrative (RSH) record
Study timeline
Study staff
Funding source identification
Participant Privacy Protections
Figure 2
Figure 3
Specific terms in SPARCRequest that match with the ones in Epic are listed below.
SPARCRequest Terms | Epic Terms |
---|---|
Protocol Information | General Information |
Protocol Title | Study Name (I RSH .2) |
PRO # (IRB #) | IRB # (I RSH 105) |
NCT# | NCT # (I RSH 181) |
Protocol ID | Study Code(I RSH 100) |
Reporting Groupers | |
Funding Source | Report Grouper - Category List 1 (I RSH 3001) |
Study Type generated from SPARC Epic boxIDE, HUD, and HDE# (under Investigational Products)Research Master ID (RMID) | Report Grouper - Category List 3 (I RSH 3011)Report Grouper - Free-Text 2 (I RSH 3002)Report Grouper -Free-Text 3 (I RSH 3003) |
Role | Study Users (role_code) |
Primary PI | Principal Investigator (I RSH 130) (SER needed) |
PI/PD; Co-Investigator; Staff Scientist; Postdoctoral scholar, Fellow, or other Postdoctoral Position; Technician | Other providers (I RSH 140) (SER needed) |
Research Nurse | Nurses (I RSH 150) (SER needed) |
Graduate Research Assistant; Undergraduate Research Assistant; Research Assistant/Coordinator; Billing/Business Manager | Study Coordinators (I RSH 110) (no SER needed; EMP only) |
Faculty Collaborator; Consultant; Mentor; General Access User; Other | Research Contacts (I RSH 120) (no SER needed; EMP only) |
Visit Calendar (Billing Information) | Study Calendar |
ARM | Protocol (I PRL .2) |
Visit | Visit (CYCLE) (I PRL 200) |
Day | Day (CTTEVENT) (I PRL 400) |
Window | Research tolerance (I PRL 470 [minus], I PRL 480 [plus]) |
Service | Component (I PRL 41005) |
Research/Third Party Payer (R/T) | Modifier (I PRL 41007) |
Epic Questions | STUDYTYPE |
Answers to Epic Questions 1 to 5, Logic-driven | Study Type (I RSH115) |
*Principal investigator, Other providers, and Nurses need to have the corresponding “provider’s record” if he/she has been selected to have EMR access.
Protocols (records) that are “Submitted” in SPARCRequest by users are sent to an Epic Queue in SPARCRequest; from there they are interfaced to Epic in a batch mode on daily basis. Authorized users can view, send or delete the protocols in the SPARC/Epic queue with the functions described below.
Epic Queue Function (from SPARCDashboard)
- In SPARCDashboard, authorized service providers are able to see the “Epic Queue” button, which will allow them to check what studies are in the process of being pushed to Epic.
Figure 3
Epic Queue
- Here is the view once “Epic Queue” is selected.” There is a current, past, and protocol update tab view found within the “Epic Queue.”
Figure 4
Epic User Inteface
Technical Specs.
- Format: Health Level Seven (HL7) messaging, based on an XML encoding syntax
- Protocol: Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
- The API can be used for other Electronic Health Record (EHR) Systems as a template
- For more details, please check the links below to the GitHub codes and the screenshot:
https://github.com/sparc-request/sparc-request/blob/master/spec/extensions/epic_interface_spec.rb
https://github.com/sparc-request/sparc-request/blob/master/lib/epic_interface.rb