Epic built its business selling health systems one product. In 2026, its announcements have reached into businesses where it is the newcomer: enterprise resource planning, IT staffing, pharmacy pricing and payer technology.
The EHR remains the foundation. Epic held 43.7% of the U.S. acute care hospital EHR market and 56.9% of hospital beds in 2025, according to KLAS Research. New hospital wins slowed in that time, though: Epic picked up 77 acute care hospitals in 2025, down from 180 in 2024, KLAS found.
Several of the newer bets are still years from full delivery, and most CIOs interviewed by Becker’s say they were withholding judgment on the expansion. Here are seven of Epic’s biggest ambitions beyond the EHR, as reported by Becker’s:
1. Enterprise resource planning: EpicOps
Epic detailed EpicOps, a full ERP suite, at its Aug. 17-20 UGM. The company told Becker’s in December 2025 that the platform would manage nurse and staff scheduling alongside clinical staffing needs in a single view, with supply chain tools that suggest substitutions before a case begins.
An Epic spokesperson framed the product as an answer to customers rather than a reach into an unrelated market.
“For years, our customers have been asking us to build a healthcare ERP,” the spokesperson said in August.
Geoff Patterson, senior vice president and chief digital and information officer of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, said in August that Epic has said the suite won’t be built out systemwide until 2029. Henry Ford still runs on a “30-year-old version of PeopleSoft,” he said.
“We’ll probably be in the next truck,” Mr. Patterson said.
Columbus-based Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is testing a few EpicOps modules, such as operating room supply management, while keeping its separate ERP platform.
2. IT staffing: Rangers
Epic unveiled Rangers at UGM, a long-term staffing program that embeds Epic-hired, Epic-trained employees inside a health system’s own IT team. Boost, Epic’s existing program, places staff on time-limited projects; Rangers assignments are designed to run on an extended basis.
“One thing I found very interesting is this past year we had 340,000 applicants for jobs. Many were highly qualified, but of course, we couldn’t hire them,” Epic founder and CEO Judy Faulkner told the UGM crowd. “With Rangers, we’ll be able to hire and train more of these capable people to help you.”
Some CIOs are weighing what Rangers means for the consulting firms they already pay to do similar work.
“This could have the same chilling effect on the consulting companies out there,” Aaron Miri, DHA, executive vice president and chief digital and information officer of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health, said in August.
3. IT analyst work: Analyst Build Assistant
At its UGM keynote, Epic showcased Analyst Build Assistant, an AI tool designed to help junior IT analysts finish in minutes build work that used to take hours. The company said it plans to expand the tool so agents can eventually make routine build changes and troubleshoot production issues largely on their FGown.
The tool touches the pipeline health systems use to develop their own analysts.
“What are the changes we need to make in how we onboard, and what are the staffing levels for the future? How do we grow the senior analyst of the future in this new world?” said Bobbie Byrne, MD, executive vice president and CIO of Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health, in August.
4. Clinical AI: Ambient documentation and AI agents
Epic rolled out AI Charting, a built-in tool that listens during patient visits and drafts clinicians’ notes and suggested orders in real time, Feb. 4. It has also developed AI agents capable of executing clinical protocols and is exploring how they could handle portions of routine patient visits, with physicians retaining oversight. Epic has not announced a release timeline for those agents.
Dr. Miri said in August that Epic’s 2025 announcement of its coming AI scribe “somewhat froze the industry” for third-party voice and ambient dictation vendors. Other CIOs see consolidating onto Epic’s platform as the safer bet.
“We really need to question any point solutions that we’re using and stick with more platform solutions like Epic,” Tom Bentley, BSN, RN, chief information and digital technology officer of Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said in August. “We might be able to gain a little bit of ground in a little bit of a niche area, but in the long run, I think it’s going to hurt us and slow us down.”
5. The integration layer: Connectors
Epic introduced AI Connectors in October, a capability designed to let its AI assistants and other software retrieve information and perform tasks in third-party applications. Connectors will support Emmie, Art and Penny, along with custom agents health systems build through Epic’s Agent Factory. Health systems will be able to find developer-created Connectors in Epic Showroom beginning in March 2027.
6. Pharmacy pricing: Prescription Marketplace
Epic is working with Amazon Pharmacy, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs and other pharmacy companies on Prescription Marketplace, a tool that will let clinicians and patients compare prescription drug prices within Epic. The planned feature will display cash prices alongside insurance-based costs before prescriptions are sent. Epic expects to release it in summer 2027.
7. Payer technology: Payer Platform
Epic told Becker’s in December 2025 that it was building payer-provider features that automate coverage discovery, prior authorization, claim status checks and documentation review. Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke’s University Health Network and UnitedHealthcare said in August they had automated claim status updates for 88% of the claims exchanged between them using Epic’s Payer Platform, according to Epic’s 2026-2027 Almanac. UnitedHealthcare has seen a 25% drop in claim status calls from St. Luke’s since the feature went live.
Epic has framed both EpicOps and Rangers as responses to customer requests. For health system leaders, the question those products raise is how much of their technology, and their technology staff, they want running through a single vendor.
