Use of Epic Electronic Health Record System for Health Care Research: Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Clinical Research
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Electronic Health Records (EHRs) facilitate data exchange across healthcare settings.
• Epic is a leading global EHR provider, yet its research applications are under-documented.
• A literature gap exists regarding the use of EHR systems like Epic for health research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review synthesizing literature on Epic EHR use cases in clinical and health sciences research.
• To identify research domains, methods, and findings related to Epic EHR utilization.

Main Methods:

• Employed established scoping review methodologies.
• Searched nine major information repositories, including databases and gray literature.
• Developed criteria for five research domains to categorize findings from 206 abstracted articles.

Main Results:

• Most studies originated from the US, with a significant increase in publications post-2015.
• Primary research areas included clinical care, health services, and clinical decision support.
• Longitudinal and single-site interventional designs were most common, focusing on adult populations.

Conclusions:

• The Epic EHR offers valuable functionalities for research in clinical/population health, quality improvement, and decision support.
• Researchers can leverage Epic's features like pooled data and module integration for impactful studies.
• Lessons learned from Epic EHR research are generalizable to other EHR systems, aiding broader healthcare advancements.