Epic Care Tools

Discover how our innovative digital solutions are enhancing collaboration between outside providers and Shriners Children's.

Shriners Children’s is on a mission to simplify communication and improve information exchange between us and outside providers through the use of two Epic tools – Epic Care Everywhere and Epic Care Link.

There are a number of benefits in utilizing these tools:

Saves time and improves efficiency for providers
Clinical notes are instantly available and accessible anytime
Eliminates waiting for faxed medical records
Outside providers can make referrals electronically, removing faxing delays
Real-time feedback on referral status without calling referrals department
Enables secure messaging and document exchange between hospital network and outside providers

Together, the benefits of using these Epic tools provide a faster turnaround time to process new referrals and help get patients in the door sooner.

Which Epic tool is right for you?

Epic Care Everywhere

Providers who are already using Epic as their electronic medical record (EMR) can utilize Epic Care Anywhere, which is natively built into the Epic application. It is important to note that different versions of the Epic application will have different levels of access.

It’s crucial that providers are using the correct version of Epic, which will allow them to review clinical notes and submit patient referrals. To ensure this, providers should contact their Epic IT support team and verify that their version of Epic supports this functionality.

Epic Care Link

Providers who are not currently using Epic as their EMR or who are unable to use the Epic Care Everywhere tool because their version of Epic doesn’t support the functionality can still enjoy the benefits of the Epic tools by using Epic Care Link, a web-based application which allows providers portal access into our EMR system.

To enroll in Epic Care Link, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Create an Account

Notify the assigned physician liaison that you would like to sign up for Epic Care Link.
Identify a site administrator and request a new account.
- Visit: epiccarelink.shrinerschildrens.org and click Request New Account.
- Once the facility account request is submitted, the site administrator then needs to request an account.
After submitting a request, the Site Administrator will receive an email to confirm email address.
- Site Administrator will need to quickly click the link in the email, which is time-sensitive.
They will then receive a confirmation email with a reference number and username to use when they first sign into the portal.
- It’s important to save this email with the reference number for their records.

Step 2: Submit Staff Account Requests

Once the Site Administrator has logged into their Epic Care Link account, we recommend they follow the steps below to submit all account requests from their account to allow quicker processing:

Create a Clinical Staff account for staff to receive full access to patient records.
Complete all required fields and other info (as available).
- If the user is a Site Administrator, check the box that says Make This User a Site Administrator.
Site Administrators are responsible for creating initial passwords, resetting passwords and unlocking accounts for users. Twice a year Site Administrators will be responsible for performing a site verification on their active accounts.
- Reminder: The non-clinical option only gives limited access. Always choose Clinical Staff for full access.
- Site Administrators are responsible for setting their users’ initial passwords once their accounts have been created. To do so, they should click on the blue key icon in the My Groups tab in the Admin section .

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Step 3: Add Physicians

Once the account is created, Site Administrators must add their physicians into the Epic Care Link before submitting any referrals. After logging in, they can follow these steps to upload physicians:

Click the Admin tab > Click Request Accounts > Select Provider (MD, PA, NP).
- Referral orders cannot be submitted until providers are approved and added to Epic Care Link site.
Choose a provider to add.
- They have the option to choose whether the physician will need an actual account or if they just need to be associated with their site.
- If the physician needs an account, they should fill in all the required information and submit.
Site Administrators will receive an email from Epic Care Link to let them know that the accounts have been created and they will need to initiate a password for the provider account.

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Step 4: Submit a Referral

Providers can submit referrals directly in the Epic Care Link by following the steps outlined below:

Begin placing orders in EpicCare Link from the home screen. In the middle of the screen click the Place Order tab.
Patients who have been previously seen by Shriners Children’s will be found in the portal. Providers can search for them in the Search My Patients tab or the Search All Patients tab by searching the patient’s name.
- If a patient has never been seen by us, the provider will need to create a new chart by clicking the Create a New Chart tab.
- Once the above step is complete, the provider can now submit a referral order from the patient’s chart.
Next, to choose the type of procedure, the provider can click Preference List to view a list of procedures.
Once they see their desired procedure, they should select the procedure and then click the Accept button at the bottom right of the screen.
On the next screen, the provider will need to enter the following information:
- To Dept Spec (auto-filled)
- To Dept (which Hospital are they sending the referral to?)
- To Prov Spec (auto-filled)
- To Provider (if they don’t know a specific provider, leave it blank)
- By Provider (referring provider)
- Priority (Routine, Urgent, Elective)
- Questions (any question referring provider has)
- Comments (anything you want to add about the referral)
- DX Association (enter diagnosis)
- Attach Files (attach files, documents, images pertaining to referral)
After filling out the information above, the provider can click the Accept button to submit the referral or the Cancel button to cancel it.
After the provider clicks the Accept button, the final step is to sign the referral orders.
- They should highlight the referral for which they want to sign the orders for and click Sign Orders to finish submitting the referral.

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Step 5: Upload Documents

Providers also have the ability to upload documents into their patients’ charts within the Epic Care Link by following these steps:

When in a patient’s chart in Epic Care Link, the provider needs to click Upload Document button, located in the bottom left of the screen.
After clicking Upload Document, they will see a pop-up box with the patient’s name and an Add Files button.
- Clicking the Add files button will trigger another window to appear that will allow the provider to choose which file(s) they would like to upload to the patient’s chart.
- The provider will be required to add a description to the document they are uploading.
- Once they have added all of the required information, they can click the Attach to Patient’s Chart button at the bottom of the screen. The uploaded information will be available immediately in the Media tab in the patient’s chart.

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