Ellen’s Epic Fail segment is typically pretty funny, but when Epic integrated schedules aren’t functioning as they should be it is no laughing matter. Integrations to EHR’s are a beautiful thing when they work. When they don’t work, they can send you through a rabbit hole attempting to troubleshoot issues. When it comes to issues with Epic integrated schedules, don’t worry – we have extremely knowledgable staff who are well trained with troubleshooting Epic integrated schedules who can assist you.

This article will go through some of the most common issues, but when it comes to troubleshooting EHR integration issues we recommend reacing out to support@inquicker.com so that a ticket can be entered with the details of your issue and one of our highly trained technical resources can help assist you. Support is included with your InQuicker licensing agreement, so there are no extra costs to enlist our team to help.

Scenario 1: All of our schedules are down

If all of your schedules are down, by all means contact support@inquicker.com and your Account Manager ASAP. They will gather the resources on our side to begin looking at this issue. However, integrations are a two-way street. They require both sides of the integration to work properly in order to serve up the content. While we work to get resources gathered to investigate and troubleshoot on our end, please also do the same by idetnifying and reaching out to your Epic Interconnect Admin. Typically in scenarios where all schedules are down there is an issue with the actual API connection that requires your Epic Interconnect Admin to resolve. Typical causes of all schedules being down are:

1. You performed an Epic upgrade that had an impact to the API endpoints InQuicker connects to to push and pull schedule, provider and patient data. In this situation, Epic usually has a patch to roll-back the API endpoints. These patches are usually included with the upgrades, but sometimes they get overlooked. This may require you to reach out to your Epic TS and inquire about a patch to API endpoints.
2. The credientials we are using to connect to your API endpoints got changed, and we need new credientials to authenticate.

Scenarion 2: One (or a few, but not all) schedules are not displaying times on InQuicker

If you have a situation where some, but not all, providers are not displaying times on InQuicker, this is most likely an issue with Epic configuration itself. InQuicker connects to the Epic API to pull slot availability for a particular provider at a particular location for a particular set of visit types. The avialability that Epic has through the API may very well be different than the availability you see in the Epic GUI. Therefore it’s important to check the following:

1. Is the Provider properly web-enabled for the department in MyChart? Reach out to your MyChart analyst and ask them to check the provider’s MyChart settings. In order for the provider to have availability through the Epic API, the provider must be web-enabled in MyChart for online scheduling.
2. Are the Visit Types properly web-enabled for the department in MyChart? Like item 1 above, the Epic Visit Types must also be web-enabled in MyChart for the department in order for availability to flow through the Epic API. Check with your MyChart analyst to see if the Vitis Types are properly web enabled for online scheduling for the department in MyChart.
3. Issues with Scheduling Pools. If you’ve checked 1 and 2 above with your MyChart analyst and they give you the all clear, next have you Cadence analyst take a look at the scheduling pools your providers are assigned to. Many times Epic customer have specific pools created for groups of providers, and if a provider isn’t properly configured within the pool, their online availability will not flow out of the Epic API. And if there is no availability coming out of the Epic API then there is no availability for InQuicker to pick up and display.
4. Issues with modifiers. If you’ve checked all the above and are still having trouble, have your Cadence analyst take a look at the modifiers. On some occasions there may be modifiers that have been configured that are causing conflicting rules and thereby preventing Epic from sending online availability out of the API.
5. Issues with the template. If all else fails, have your Candence analyst take a look at the schedule template to ensure it is properly built and configured, and that appoint times fit within the duration slots, etc.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, if facing an integration issue, please reach out to support@inquicker.com or your Account Manager. Troubleshooting EHR integration issues can be difficult and our resources are here to help ensure your online scheduling success. Together we can work through the problem and find a resolution. We will help you check things such as:

1. Are we using the correct Provider ID
2. Are we using the correct Department ID
3. Are we using the correct Visit Type ID
4. If we can access your Epic API via Postman (i.e. we are connected to you through TLS and not VPN) then we can check to see if we are getting availability from your Epic API
   • If we are not getting availailability from your Epic API then we know for sure the issue is on the Epic side
   • If we are getting availabilty form the Epic API and still not showing availability, then we know for sure the issue is on the InQuicker side.

And from there we will continue to venture our way down the rabbit hole with you troubleshooting your schedules until we have came to a resolution. By working together as partners we can typically come to a quick resolution. In the case of troubleshooting EHR integration issues, teamwork really does make the dream work.