Epic Connectors and the End of Shipping Guesswork

Epic recently announced a new AI capability that will help healthcare teams work more efficiently across applications. VPLRx is among the third-party apps supporting this innovation to automate logistics decisions across prescription delivery.

The challenge behind every delivery

For patients expecting medication delivery after a visit, one question matters most: “when will my medication arrive?”

For most care teams, answering it means leaving their workflow, checking another system and relying on their “best guess” to make a shipping decision. These extra steps can interrupt the visit, add frustration for care teams and negatively impact the patient experience.  Epic recently announced a new way to address these challenges and VPLRx is among the third-party apps supporting this new capability.

The goal is to eliminate the time and extra work of moving between apps, making it easier and faster to get what patients and staff need. So, when a patient asks, “when will my medication arrive?”, care teams can answer with confidence before the patient leaves the visit.

What Epic announced

Epic introduced Connectors, a capability that lets developers link their apps directly to Epic’s AI tools. Connectors will work with Emmie (Epic’s AI for patients), Art (for clinicians) and Penny (for revenue cycle and operations teams). They’ll also work with custom AI agents that health systems build using Epic’s Agent Factory platform. 

A Connector can bring information from another app directly into Epic whenever someone needs it. It can also complete tasks in other apps. The result? Less of what Epic calls "swivel-chair" work, where staff and patients switch between apps and portals to get what they need. That means fewer steps for care teams and greater patient satisfaction.

Where VPLRx fits

VPLRx is a pharmacy logistics platform that automates shipping decisions inside the systems pharmacy teams already use and are comfortable with. It combines a decade of delivery data with real-time inputs like carrier performance and weather conditions to determine the best way to ship a patient’s medication so potential issues can be mitigated before they happen. 

With VPLRx connected to Epic, care teams can answer delivery questions without leaving the application, whether they’re on the phone with a patient or in the same room. And because shipping decisions are made for them rather than by them, patients can leave their visits knowing exactly when their medication will arrive. 

Built for health system control

Health systems decide which Connectors to enable based on their unique workflows. Before turning one on, they can review what it can do, what information it can read and what it can change. This gives them the control and flexibility to adopt the AI tools that best support their teams. Connectors will be available on Epic Showroom starting in March 2027.

What’s next

Our goal is to automate logistics decisions across the prescription journey, and this integration is a meaningful step forward. If you’re an Epic health system and want to see how VPLRx can simplify medication delivery inside your existing workflow, get in touch.

Read more:

Epic's announcement

Fierce Healthcare coverage