Epic touts interoperability wins: 9B records exchanged, 60K orgs on TEFCA

Amid intensifying efforts to advance healthcare interoperability, EHR giant Epic shared that its platform facilitated the exchange of 9 billion health records in 2025. In an effort to further enhance interoperability on its platform, the company also announced new capabilities for sharing high-quality diagnostic images and performing real-time prior authorization checks.

At Epic's 2026 Users Group Meeting, the company highlighted the massive number of health records exchanged, adding that many were shared with non-Epic systems. However, the company did not provide a specific number of non-Epic record exchanges.

Not only that, but more than 2,000 hospitals and 58,000 clinics are also using Epic to connect to TEFCA, doubling connections from last year.

Launched in December 2023, the federal interoperability exchange aims to advance health data exchange through qualified health information networks. According to The Sequoia Project, TEFCA's coordinating entity, more than 100,000 healthcare sites nationwide are sharing patient data through the exchange, with over 1.5 billion documents shared since the exchange went live in 2023.

In addition to highlighting these figures, Epic sannounced the launch of Care Everywhere Diagnostic Image Exchange. The new capability enables clinicians to access diagnostic-quality images, including CTs, X-rays and MRIs, on their Epic platform. Previously, Epic users could only share written radiology reports and reference-quality images, which are less detailed than diagnostic-quality images.

"Care Everywhere Diagnostic Image Exchange empowers clinicians to deliver faster care and eliminates administrative burden," said Matt Doyle, director of interoperability at Epic, in an Aug. 13 press release. "We're the first to embrace open image-sharing standards at scale, and we're advocating for TEFCA -- the federally sponsored interoperability framework -- to embrace these standards so that any health system in the United States can exchange diagnostic images."

Further, Epic has rolled out an application programming interface that allows care teams to check whether payer authorization is required before providing treatment. The API checks the prior authorization requirements for several major insurers, including UnitedHealthcare and Aetna. The real-time prior authorization checks aim to enhance the key interoperability element that controls how quickly a patient can receive treatment. Four health systems are already using the API for prior authorization checks.

These moves are the latest examples Epic has provided to underscore its commitment to interoperability. The EHR behemoth accounts for nearly half (43.7%) of the acute care EHR market, giving it an outsized influence over interoperability efforts in healthcare. However, this level of influence brings with it both pros and cons for achieving interoperability goals.

Anuja Vaidya has covered the healthcare industry since 2012. She currently covers healthcare IT and innovation, including artificial intelligence, digital healthcare, EHRs and interoperability.