Epic Expands Beyond EHR with New AI & ERP Tools at HIMSS’25

The ERP system will focus on workforce management, finance, and materials, offering tools for human resources, payroll, accounts payable, and medical supply procurement.

Epic is broadening its portfolio beyond electronic health records (EHR) by developing a healthcare-specific enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Announced at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, the initiative places Epic in direct competition with industry giants like Oracle and Workday.

The ERP system will focus on workforce management, finance, and materials, offering tools for human resources, payroll, accounts payable, and medical supply procurement. The development builds on Epic’s August 2023 initiative aimed at clinician scheduling.

“We are building our [enterprise resource planning tool] as healthcare-focused from the ground up," said Seth Howard, Epic’s executive vice president of research and development. "Most [enterprise resource planning] systems out there today are built to be industry agnostic. They're used in healthcare, but they're also used in many other industries.”

Epic plans to release software components in phases. The first version of the staff scheduling tool is already being tested with select health systems. However, the company has not disclosed the names of these initial customers or provided a timeline for a full-scale rollout.

"We recognize some customers will want to go [with] more of a big bang and sort of wait until we have a more comprehensive solution," Howard added. "We don't have a timeline for that yet."

Epic also introduced AI-powered agents designed to assist both patients and healthcare providers. These tools, embedded directly in the EHR, are designed to handle routine administrative tasks, such as scheduling lab tests, refilling prescriptions based on patient messages, and engaging patients in conversations about their care goals.

The AI agents will be available exclusively to customers using Epic’s cloud platform. While Epic confirmed a planned release this year, it did not provide a specific launch date.

As the healthcare industry increasingly integrates AI-driven solutions, Epic's move aligns with a broader trend of automation in clinical and operational workflows. However, Epic's ERP system's success will depend on how effectively it can compete with established vendors that already dominate the space.