Integrating Epic EHR with Infor CloudSuite: A Technical Guide for Healthcare Systems

If you run an Infor CloudSuite environment at a healthcare organization that also uses Epic, you already know the central tension: your clinical systems and your financial systems need to talk to each other, and making that happen cleanly is one of the hardest technical challenges in healthcare IT. Over 26 years of implementing Infor at hospitals and health systems ranging from 400 to 1,800 beds, I have designed and delivered Epic-to-Infor integrations more times than I can count. Here is what I have learned.

Why Epic-Infor Integration Matters

Epic dominates the electronic health record market, and for good reason. But Epic is a clinical system at its core. When it comes to enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, financials, and human capital management, most large health systems turn to Infor CloudSuite. The problem is that these two ecosystems were never designed to work together natively.

Without proper Epic EHR integration, healthcare organizations end up with duplicate data entry, disconnected supply chain workflows, manual journal entries, and reconciliation nightmares that consume hundreds of staff hours every month. I have walked into health systems where the finance team was spending three full days each month just reconciling purchase orders between Epic and their ERP. That is not sustainable, and it is entirely preventable with the right integration architecture.

The goal of healthcare ERP integration is straightforward: clinical activity in Epic should flow seamlessly into the financial and operational systems in Infor CloudSuite, and master data should stay synchronized across both platforms. The execution, however, requires careful planning.

Common Integration Patterns

There are several established patterns for connecting Epic and Infor CloudSuite. The right choice depends on data volume, latency requirements, and the specific workflows you are integrating.

HL7 and FHIR Messaging

Epic supports HL7 v2 messaging extensively through its Bridges interface engine. For clinical data that needs to reach Infor, HL7 ADT (Admit/Discharge/Transfer) messages and SIU (Scheduling) messages are the most common starting points. More recently, Epic has invested heavily in FHIR R4 APIs, which provide RESTful access to clinical and operational data. FHIR is particularly useful for real-time lookups and modern API-driven integration patterns.

In practice, I use HL7 for high-volume transactional data where Epic Bridges is already configured, and FHIR for newer integration points where real-time access matters more than batch throughput.

Flat File / Batch Integration

Do not underestimate flat files. For many integration points, particularly general ledger journal entries and bulk supply chain transactions, scheduled batch files remain the most reliable and auditable approach. Epic can export delimited files on a schedule, and Infor CloudSuite can consume them through ION or direct file imports. I have seen organizations try to replace proven batch processes with real-time messaging and regret it when transaction volumes spike during month-end close.

Real-Time vs. Batch: A Practical Framework

Using Infor ION as Middleware

Infor ION is the backbone of any Infor CloudSuite healthcare integration. It serves as the enterprise service bus and message broker for all data flowing into and out of the Infor ecosystem. For Epic integration specifically, ION plays a critical role as the translation and routing layer.

Here is how I typically architect the Epic-to-ION connection: Epic Bridges or Epic Interconnect publishes data, which lands in an integration layer, either through an SFTP drop, a web service call, or an HL7 listener. ION picks up that data, transforms it into the appropriate Infor Business Object Document (BOD), and routes it to the target CloudSuite module. For example, a supply chain requisition originating in Epic gets transformed into a ProcessPurchaseOrder BOD and routed to Infor CloudSuite Supply Management.

The advantage of ION is that it gives you a single integration backbone with built-in monitoring, error handling, and replay capabilities. When an Epic message fails to process, you can see exactly where it failed in ION, fix the issue, and replay the message without asking Epic to resend anything.

Key Integration Points

After implementing Infor CloudSuite healthcare solutions at dozens of organizations, these are the integration points that matter most between Epic and Infor.

Supply Chain and Procurement

This is where Epic integration with Infor CloudSuite delivers the most tangible value. When a clinician uses a supply item in Epic (documented through preference cards, case picks, or point-of-use scanning), that consumption data needs to flow into Infor CloudSuite Supply Management to trigger replenishment, update inventory counts, and generate purchase orders. The integration typically connects Epic's Materials Management or Willow (pharmacy) modules to Infor's Supply Management and Procurement modules.

I always recommend establishing a single item master as the authoritative source and synchronizing it bidirectionally. In most implementations, Infor CloudSuite owns the item master for supply chain items, and that data replicates to Epic. Trying to maintain two independent item masters is a recipe for mismatches, stockouts, and billing errors.

Accounts Payable and Procurement

Purchase orders created in Infor need to be visible in Epic for receiving and three-way matching. Conversely, receiving confirmations from Epic need to flow back to Infor to trigger AP processing. The standard pattern is PO-out from Infor to Epic, receipt-back from Epic to Infor, with invoice matching happening entirely within Infor CloudSuite Financials.

General Ledger

Epic generates significant financial activity that must post to the general ledger in Infor CloudSuite Financials. Patient revenue, contractual adjustments, bad debt provisions, and departmental charges all need to map from Epic's chart of accounts structure to Infor's financial dimensions. This is almost always a batch integration, typically running daily, with a full reconciliation cycle at month-end.

HR and Payroll

Employee data flows between Infor CloudSuite HCM and Epic for provider credentialing, security access, and scheduling. When an employee is hired, terminated, or changes departments in Infor HCM, that change needs to propagate to Epic to maintain accurate provider records and appropriate system access. Epic's Security module relies on accurate employee data to enforce role-based access controls.

GHX Integration Alongside Epic and Infor

No discussion of healthcare supply chain integration is complete without addressing GHX (Global Healthcare Exchange). GHX sits between your organization and your suppliers, handling electronic purchase orders, invoices, and catalog synchronization. In a typical architecture, Infor CloudSuite generates purchase orders, sends them through GHX to suppliers, and receives electronic invoices back through GHX into Infor for AP processing.

The complexity arises when Epic is also involved in the supply chain workflow. Clinicians may be ordering supplies through Epic, which triggers a requisition that flows to Infor, which generates a PO that routes through GHX. Getting the status updates to flow back through the entire chain so that clinicians can see order status in Epic requires careful orchestration across all three systems.

The Clinically Integrated Supply Chain

The ultimate goal of Epic-Infor integration in healthcare is what the industry calls a clinically integrated supply chain. This means that clinical decisions about patient care are directly connected to supply chain operations. When a surgeon selects a specific implant during surgical planning in Epic, that selection should automatically trigger the procurement workflow in Infor CloudSuite, check inventory availability, initiate a purchase order if needed, and ensure the item is ready for the procedure date.

I have helped health systems achieve this level of integration, and the results are compelling: reduced surgical delays due to supply issues by 40-60%, significant reductions in expired inventory, and millions of dollars in savings from better demand forecasting. But it requires tight integration between Epic Optime (surgical), Epic Willow (pharmacy), and Infor CloudSuite Supply Management, all coordinated through ION.

Data Mapping Challenges

One of the most time-consuming aspects of any Epic EHR integration with Infor CloudSuite is data mapping. The two systems have fundamentally different data models, and the translation between them is where most integration projects run into trouble.

• Chart of accounts mapping: Epic uses a flat account structure while Infor CloudSuite Financials uses multi-dimensional financial coding (company, account, cost center, project, etc.)
• Item master synchronization: Epic item identifiers, UNSPSC codes, and manufacturer part numbers must map cleanly to Infor item records with correct unit of measure conversions
• Vendor master alignment: Supplier records in GHX, Epic, and Infor must all reference the same entities, and keeping them synchronized as vendors merge, rename, or change addresses is an ongoing operational challenge
• Employee ID mapping: Infor HCM employee IDs rarely match Epic provider IDs, requiring a crosswalk table that must be maintained as staff are hired and separated
• Location and department hierarchies: Epic organizational structures almost never align one-to-one with Infor financial dimensions, requiring complex mapping tables

My strong recommendation is to invest heavily in data governance before you write a single line of integration code. Establish ownership, define mapping rules, document exceptions, and build validation into every integration touchpoint.

Performance Considerations for High-Volume Healthcare Transactions

Healthcare organizations generate enormous transaction volumes. A 1,000-bed hospital system might process 50,000 supply chain transactions per day, tens of thousands of GL journal entries at month-end, and hundreds of thousands of charge capture records daily. Your integration architecture must handle these volumes without becoming a bottleneck.

Key performance strategies I implement on every healthcare ERP integration project:

• Message batching: Group individual transactions into larger payloads to reduce ION overhead and improve throughput
• Parallel processing: Configure ION workflow processes to handle multiple message streams concurrently rather than sequentially
• Off-peak scheduling: Run batch integrations during off-peak hours (typically 2:00-5:00 AM) to avoid competing with clinical system load
• Database optimization: Ensure staging tables and crosswalk lookups are properly indexed, particularly for high-volume supply chain flows
• Circuit breaker patterns: Implement automatic throttling when downstream systems are under load to prevent cascading failures

Testing Integration in Healthcare: PHI Considerations

Testing Epic-Infor integrations carries unique challenges that you will not encounter in other industries. Protected Health Information (PHI) regulations under HIPAA mean that you cannot simply copy production data into your test environment and start running transactions.

Every integration test environment must use either fully de-identified data or synthetic test data that mimics production patterns without containing real patient information. I work with health system compliance teams early in every project to establish approved test data sets and ensure that integration testing logs do not inadvertently capture PHI.

Lessons from Large Healthcare Implementations

Having implemented Infor CloudSuite at healthcare facilities ranging from 400 to 1,800 beds, with Epic as the clinical system in most cases, I have accumulated a set of hard-won lessons that I apply to every new engagement.

Start with supply chain. Of all the integration points between Epic and Infor, supply chain delivers the fastest and most measurable ROI. Get item master synchronization and procurement workflows right first, then expand to GL, HR, and other domains.

Do not understaff the mapping effort. I have seen healthcare organizations allocate two weeks for data mapping between Epic and Infor. It consistently takes six to eight weeks for a mid-size health system and longer for large IDNs (Integrated Delivery Networks). Budget accordingly.

Invest in monitoring from day one. ION provides monitoring dashboards, but you need to customize alerting thresholds for healthcare transaction patterns. A supply chain integration that processes 50,000 messages per day needs different alerting than one that processes 500. Build operational runbooks that your integration support team can follow when alerts fire.

Plan for Epic upgrades. Epic releases major updates three times per year, and these upgrades can affect interface behavior, data formats, and API availability. Your integration architecture needs to be resilient to these changes. I build version-aware adapters in the ION layer that can handle format differences across Epic versions without requiring a complete integration rebuild.

Engage clinical stakeholders early. The most technically perfect integration is worthless if clinicians do not trust the data. Include nursing, pharmacy, and surgical leadership in integration design sessions so they understand what data is flowing, how quickly it arrives, and what to do when something looks wrong.