moving to Epic

John,

See my responses below:

Q: Do Epic Bridges and Cloverleaf play well together?

A: Yes, Bridges connects just fine with Cloverleaf

Q: Is there a certification process we need to go through for Bridges?

A: Yes, there is a certification process.  You go to training and take an exam sometime after doing the training (not as part of it).  I think now they are also having you do ‘projects’ as part of the certification/exam.

Q: Is there an Epic pre test that we need to take before they let us do Bridges training?  If so can someone tell me about it?

A: I know that we did take a pre-test; the test seemed akin to an IQ test.  I think the point of the test is to determine likelihood of folks being able to get through certification.

Q: How much time do we need to allocate to put three folks through Bridges training?

A: When we went to training, we had to take one “general” type of class and also the Epic Bridges class.  Each session was 4-5 full days of training at Epic.

Hope this helps.

Jim Cobane

Henry Ford Health

I received my Bridges Certification in 2009.  At that time, I just had to attend a 2 day Bridges class in Wisconsin and then take a test.  (Guess I got off easy from what Jim noted.)  🙂

You will probably find that Bridges isn’t what you are used to in an engine.  It’s not able to work magic like Cloverleaf can.

We (Legacy Health) moved to Epic going on 6 years ago.

We have cloverleaf and it works just fine with Bridges.

The trick is WHER you going to do your translations?

We have tried to keep it all in Cloverleaf.

If you have Epic user web, check out the online training for Bridges and you will need to get the training.. I did mine 2 years ago 2010 and it was three days.. Go in the spring and stay downtown.. Madison is pretty nice.

TonyB

Hi John,

I think you’ve already had most of your questions answered but I got my Epic Bridges certification fairly recent (about a year ago) and thought I’d add some additional input.

You will have to be certified for bridges. For me it was only a 3 day course but you have to travel to Epic headquarters up in Madison, WI. Once you return you will be assigned a project and you will have to take an exam. The exam was open book but there is a time limit.

There is a pre-test that pretty much is just a basic knowledge/aptitude test that will show your “likeliness” to pass any Epic exam. I don’t know if this is required by Epic now (I didn’t have to take this when I got certified) or if it is more company preference.

Time wise it is hard to say, are you putting 3 interface familiar people through the Bridges training or will they be new to the interface world?

How much background do they have with HL7 and such will matter too.

I would think someone with previous knowledge should be able to go take the course, return home, complete the project, and take the Exam in a matter of a couple of weeks. I came into the roll with very little interface knowledge and was able to complete my certification in a bout 3 weeks total and that was partly due to time restraints on scheduling the exam.

Ditto to all the above.  In addition (for anyone else who reads this three months from now):

I took the first exam as part of my interview process at Ardent.

As soon as possible, register yourself on the Epic Web and find course EDI101 (Bridges Interfaces), complete the pre-requisites, then download and read the PDF file for the Bridges training guide before jumping the jet to Madison; get together with any teammates that will also be going to discuss any questions that arise.  The guide is part of the class materials, so having this knowledge in advance is key.  Some information from the pre-requisite course may also appear on the exam.

John – We are just ahead of your Epic timeline here.  Our Bridges team was just certified this year (2016).  We are two weeks from our interface direction setting meetings.  Bridges certification alone is a 2-day class in Madison, one test, one project.  Do read the material for the course prior to class it will help immensely.  Those with prior interfaces, HL7, or programming experience should have no problems with certification.  Epic starts at a foundation level and moves on from there.

I saw an interesting post from Tony Benitz.  Tony I would be curious to your opinion on your site

With respect to keeping the translations/manipulations on Cloverleaf, you essentially have to.  Epic Bridges is not an “interface engine” and you don’t have a whole lot of control over manipulating messages.  It is mostly configuration and settings of how the data will process within Epic, so if you need to do any translation/formatting, your engine will need to do it.  Your interface engine will still do all the “heavy lifting” in terms of any message manipulation/filtering.  Sometimes, upper-level management thinks that Epic Bridges will supplant your interface engine, which it will NOT.  Your interface engine will actually be even more critical.   Just my $.02.

Jim Cobane

Henry Ford Health System

James – sorry saw my missing word, my post/inquiry was in reference to translation tables (not translations i.e. xlates).  Xlates(translations) will of course be all in Cloverleaf for us.

Thanks for catching that.

Chad,

Thanks for the clarification.  We have a few translation tables that we utilize in Epic, but we too, do most of the value translation (when needed) within Cloverleaf.  Everybody expects something different for a given coded value, so doing it on your engine makes sense.

Jim Cobane

Henry Ford Health System