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IMPORTANT: Study teams obtaining HIPAA authorizations for research subjects ​​​​​​​must ensure that a copy of the consent/assent/HIPAA authorization are sent to medical records to be added to the subjects chart.

Study teams with questions as to how to do this can refer to the Epic Research Informed Consent Job Aid.

In October 2017, UMass Memorial Healthcare rolled out the Epic EHR system.

UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Healthcare have worked with Epic and Forte Research Systems (now Advarra), the makers of OnCore, to support the interface of the EHR and CTMS systems.

Information that is currently shared between the two systems include:

  • Demographic information
  • Clinical research protocol information
  • Patient enrollment and research visit information
  • Clinical research billing information
  • Regulatory information
  • Financial management information

Please note that only documents directly related to treatment should be uploaded into Epic, as this is the patient’s legal medical record. Items such as patient diaries, questionnaires, and logs, for example, should not be uploaded into Epic.

How do I get an Epic user account for research purposes?

Epic access for clinical trial management allows study coordinators to perform research tasks such as billing review.

Before an Epic user account can be set up, the user must:

  1. Have a user account in OnCore

    AND

  2. Be listed on an IRB-approved study which has been entered into OnCore.

So long as both of those criteria are met, a user may request an Epic user account by should submitting a TRAcs request.

What if my study is not a clinical trial?

If you would like to access data in EPIC for your research or the study is not a clinical trial and is not in OnCore, you should submit a TRAcs request for the Data Science Core (Informatics) to retrieve the data set. 

What if my study is not in OnCore

All clinical research that meets any of the following criteria must be entered into OnCore:

  • Has an external fund source.
  • Uses or purchases a service from UMass Memorial Health Care or any of its affiliates, including UMass Memorial Medical Group.
  • Has or requires registration on ClinicalTrials.gov (has a NCT number).
  • Uses the UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science Clinical Research Center.
  • Uses the services of the UMass IRB or Investigational Drug Services.
  • Flags patients in Epic or uses Epic for recruitment.
  • Requires access to https://www.conqueringdiseases.org/ recruitment tools.

This requirement helps ensure participant safety, institutional compliance, and better data for departments about their research activities. 

More information about OnCore can be found here.

If you have a study that requires entry into OnCore, please submit a TRAcs request.

How do I contact UMass Memorial IT Service Desk if I cannot access the "Hub"?

Epic is maintained by UMass Memorial IT. Once an account has been requested through the UMass Chan Office of Clinical Research and provisioned, by UMass Memorial IT, any Epic related IT requests should go to the UMass Memorial IT Service Desk. If you are unable to directly access the UMass Memorial IT Service Desk on the UMass Memorial Hub, you can reach them using the information below:

For UMass Memorial IT, your first point of contact for technical issues, IS offers support services, including the IS Self-Service Portal, ServiceNow, and the IS Support Center, 508-334-8800