Epic Systems is working on its own app store called “App Exchange”, which would offer apps that connect to the company’s popular Electronic Health Records (EHR) platform.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal — and confirmed by the company’s spokesman Shawn Kiesau — the store is set to launch in just a few weeks, helping propel the entire eco-system of companies that make software that relies on Epic’s EHR.

The report goes on to suggest that Epic will soon publish a set of standards and guidelines for app developers. Initially though, the service will focus on Epic’s existing customer based, with consumer-focused apps coming at a later date.

The move to take this step comes on the heels of Epic’s decision to better sing along other health IT solutions. Last fall, the Verona, Wis.-based company hired lobbyists Card & Associates to “educate members of Congress on the interoperability of Epic’s healthcare information technology” after criticism from Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) utilizing a RAND Corp. report in a July hearing claiming Epic’s EHR platform was “closed.”

Interoperability is the keyword here; it plays a major role in which team is awarded the Department of Defense Healthcare Management Systems Modernization (DHMSM) contract worth potentially $11 billion dollars. To win this bid, Epic has teamed-up with IBM to propose a solution to transform the MHS leveraging Epic’s high performance, interoperable and secure EHR software.

[Via: hitconsultant]