Clarity Connect integration
Epic SQL Server Integration
Load Epic data into your own SQL Server for reports, a warehouse or a patient portal, using the routes Epic documents: its Clarity reporting database, FHIR APIs and HL7 interfaces.
What moves between Epic and SQL Server
First, a naming clash. Epic's reporting database is called Clarity. It is an Epic product and has nothing to do with Clarity Ventures or Clarity Connect.
Epic runs the chart on its operational database, Chronicles, and copies that data into Clarity, a relational reporting database, on a schedule. Most Epic-to-SQL projects read from Clarity or from Epic's APIs and load the result into a SQL Server database the organization controls, where reports and applications can use it. The data travels one way, out of Epic. Anything headed back goes through Epic's own interfaces.
Epic
Where the chart and its reporting copy live
- Clarity reporting tables
- FHIR resources
- FHIR Bulk Data exports
- HL7 interface messages
SQL Server
Where your reports, warehouse or portal read from
- Staging tables
- Reporting and warehouse tables
- Portal and application data
- Load and error logs
Epic to SQL Server data map
Epic's names on the left, as Epic on FHIR and open.epic use them. Which Clarity tables and fields you need is settled in discovery.
| Epic | SQL Server | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Clarity tables chosen for the report | Staging tables, then reporting tables | Epic to SQL Server |
| Patient (Demographics), FHIR R4 | Patient table | Epic to SQL Server |
| Observation (Labs), FHIR R4 | Results table | Epic to SQL Server |
| FHIR Bulk Data export files | Population tables, loaded in batches | Epic to SQL Server |
| Outbound HL7 message | Message log and parsed event rows | Epic to SQL Server |
The routes Epic documents
Reading Epic's Clarity database
Epic lists SQL exports from its relational reporting databases, Kit and Clarity, among its integration options. Health systems that publish their setup describe Clarity as refreshed from Chronicles nightly, and OHSU and Penn Medicine run theirs on Microsoft SQL Server. A scheduled task can query Clarity with read-only credentials and load the rows into your database. An outside vendor needs Epic's permission first: Epic licenses the Clarity data model to developers through Vendor Services.
FHIR and Bulk Data for patient and population feeds
Epic on FHIR, Epic's free developer site, documents R4 endpoints (with older DSTU2 and STU3 versions for many resources) such as Patient and Observation, plus FHIR Bulk Data operations for population-level exports. A backend app registered with Epic can request a group's data as files and load them into SQL Server tables.
HL7 interfaces for events as they happen
Epic also exchanges standards-based messages: HL7, ASC X12, NCPDP and DICOM. When a report or portal can't wait for the nightly Clarity refresh, the health system's Epic interface team can set up an outbound HL7 feed, and Connect parses each message into SQL Server rows as it arrives.
No writes into Epic's databases
Clarity is a copy kept for reporting, so editing a row there doesn't change the chart. Epic's documented routes in are its interfaces and APIs. If a portal needs to send something back, such as a form a patient completes, the health system's Epic team has to enable an inbound interface or API for it.
See Clarity Connect move an order
Watch an online order travel into the ERP and its status come back in our Clarity Connect demo, or book a live walkthrough on your own systems.
Epic's developer programs, renamed
App Orchard, Epic's developer marketplace, later became the App Market. In December 2022 Epic moved App Market vendors into Vendor Services and opened Connection Hub, where vendors list their Epic connections. Showroom is now where Epic customers find products that work with Epic. Standard FHIR APIs and their documentation stay free on open.epic and Epic on FHIR; Kit, the Clarity data model and Epic's private APIs come through Vendor Services.
A health system querying its own Clarity database needs only its own approvals. A vendor reading it on the health system's behalf needs both the health system's go-ahead and Epic's licensing.
HIPAA on the SQL Server side
Once Epic data lands in SQL Server, that database holds electronic PHI and falls under the HIPAA Security Rule. Encryption at rest and in transit are addressable specifications (45 CFR 164.312(a)(2)(iv) and (e)(2)(ii)): you assess them, then implement them or document an equivalent measure. SQL Server's Transparent Data Encryption covers data and log files at rest but not connections, which need their own TLS setup.
Any outside party that stores or transmits that PHI for the health system is a business associate and needs a written agreement under 45 CFR 164.502(e). Clarity's HIPAA integration guide covers the wider picture.
How Clarity Connect runs it
Clarity Connect is Clarity's integration platform. It reads databases, files, web services and APIs, with HL7 v2 among its named formats, and runs each feed as a task, either on a schedule or as messages arrive. In an on-premises set-up, Connect runs on a server behind the hospital's firewall, next to the Clarity database and your SQL Server. If SQL Server is offline, jobs wait in a retry queue rather than being lost. Connect's demos are collected in our video playlist.
Discovery
A Clarity business analyst documents the data fields and workflows each system can share and which ones you need.
Tasks and mapping
Each flow becomes a Connect task, such as orders to the ERP or stock to the store, set to run in real time or on a schedule.
Testing
Orders and updates are run end to end, including the return trip of statuses back to the customer-facing system.
Live, with a dashboard
Queues and scheduled tasks show in Connect's Hangfire dashboard. A job whose target is offline is retried 10 times, every 30 minutes, and can be re-queued once the cause is fixed.
Clarity Connect is sold as a SaaS subscription at $599 a month or as a one-time license at $15,000 with no ongoing fees, and larger projects are priced to scope. See pricing.
Questions
Is Epic's Clarity database related to Clarity Ventures?
No. Clarity is the name Epic gives its own reporting database. Clarity Ventures is a separate company, and Clarity Connect is our integration platform, which can read from Epic's Clarity database once the health system grants access.
Can data be written back into Epic?
Not into its databases. Data reaches Epic through the interfaces and APIs Epic documents, set up with the health system's Epic team. Writing into Clarity would change only the reporting copy, not the chart.
How current is data read from Clarity?
Usually a day behind. Health systems that document their setup, such as Vanderbilt, refresh Clarity from Chronicles nightly. For same-day data, use Epic's FHIR APIs or an HL7 feed instead.
How much does it cost?
Clarity Connect costs $599 a month as SaaS, or $15,000 for a one-time license with no ongoing fees. Larger projects are priced to scope. See pricing.
Related resources
Connect Epic and SQL Server
Tell us which Epic data your reports or portal need, and how fresh it has to be. A Clarity business analyst will work through the tables, APIs and access approvals with your Epic and database teams before anything is built.
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