Healthcare providers face a constant balancing act between patient care and practice management. From managing patient interactions to handling billing and ensuring regulatory compliance, the responsibilities continue to grow. This is where electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR) software come in.
Epic and Allscripts (now Veradigm) are key players in this space, each offering distinguished strengths. Large healthcare organizations trust Epic’s comprehensive systems, while Allscripts specializes in improving clinical workflows and patient engagement through its tailored solutions.
This comparison examines Epic and Allscripts across features, pricing, and real-world use to help you select the right system for your practice's daily operations and future growth.
A Head-On Comparison
Epic EMR is a widely adopted healthcare software solution known for its extensive functionality and ability to cater to large healthcare organizations. Its comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) system offers advanced clinical decision support, billing management, and patient scheduling. In addition, the tool equips providers with remote monitoring and generative AI, making it a strong platform for hospitals, labs, and clinics.
What sets Epic apart is its ability to unify various healthcare contexts under one platform. This creates a consistent experience for staff across departments and supports data sharing through its Care Everywhere network.
Allscripts EMR, now branded as Veradigm, is another prominent healthcare software designed to boost clinical efficiency for small to medium-sized practices. It offers essential features like AI-powered Predictive Scheduler, telehealth through FollowMyHealth, and intuitive patient engagement tools with usability at its core.
What sets Allscripts apart is its practical, cloud-based interface and mobile access, which allows healthcare providers to quickly adapt without extensive training, making it a convenient choice.
Epic And Allscripts: At A Glance
Feature
Epic
Allscripts
Patient Engagement
Digital Front Door allows patients to connect with scheduling, payments, and shopper estimates
CRM for healthcare
Communication for patient outreach
Check-ins with mobile
AI Capabilities
AI assistant
Draft notes and messages with generative AI support
Predictive scheduler
AI-based tool to optimize healthcare scheduling
Telehealth
In-home primary care with EpicCare
Remote patient monitoring
Video consultations through FollowMyHealth
Secure messaging with care teams
Compliance
Compliant with HIPAA
ONC regulations apply
ONC-certified
HIPAA compliant
Patient Portal
Epic’s MyChart allows patients to view lab results, histories, medications and more
Patients can access personal health records
Specialized tools for communication
FollowMyHealth portal for records and appointments
E-Prescriptions
Digital authorization requests
Integrate with state PDMPs
e-Prescribe functionality
Prescription refills through FollowMyHealth
Revenue Cycle Management
Referral management and authorization
Integrated insurance verification
Claims management and denial tracking
Patient cost estimates
Coding experts to speed up execution
Eligibility checks and denial management
Dedicated billing teams for collections
Specialty Management
Supports multiple types of healthcare specialties like dental, orthopedics, urology, oncology, and more.
Serves numerous specialties, including cardiology, psychiatry, endocrinology, ENT, gynecology, etc.
Enables easier cross-system communication due to widespread adoption
Connects to medical devices for smooth data integration
Reduces billing and coding errors
Offers great customer support
Frequent updates keep the software running smoothly
Manual errors are reduced by workflow automation
Employee communication is improved
Provides specialized insights about patient demographics
Offers ease of use for patients and practitioners alike
CONS
CONS
Changing orders requires canceling and re-entering them
Some desktop features are missing on the mobile app
Multiple users can't access the same patient note simultaneously
Reporting functions can be difficult to navigate
Side By Side Features Comparison
EHR and Patient Management
Epic provides an EHR solution that connects healthcare facilities globally through its Care Everywhere network, enabling seamless interoperability across systems. It excels in acute care and large hospital environments, offering patient monitoring, record management, and generative AI tools for drafting notes and clinical support.
Allscripts also delivers a comprehensive EHR but is better suited for small to mid-sized ambulatory practices due to its strong usability. It supports clinical intake, assessments, diagnosis, and treatment care plans. The platform includes patient follow-up communication, mobile access, and the FollowMyHealth patient portal, which enables patients to securely view health records, schedule appointments, and manage billing.
Our Verdict: It’s a tie. Epic is better suited for large health networks with deep specialty tools, while Allscripts excels for smaller practices thanks to its simpler design and faster implementation.
Telehealth and Virtual Care
Epic integrates telehealth directly into its EHR system, enabling clinicians to start virtual visits, review records, and monitor remote patients within a single interface. Its MyChart platform streamlines transitions between in-person and virtual care. Additionally, Epic supports remote patient monitoring, feeding data from wearable devices and in-home sensors directly into the clinical record.
Allscripts offers telehealth via its FollowMyHealth patient engagement platform. Providers can connect with patients through video while accessing records and schedules. Each virtual encounter is documented within the EHR, maintaining consistent and continuous care.
Our Verdict:Epic wins this category for its deeply integrated telehealth functionality and seamless link between virtual and in-person care.
Scheduling
Epic offers advanced scheduling tools, including its Digital Front Door, which allows patients to book appointments without a login. It serves as a centralized scheduling hub for multi-specialty practices. Built-in decision support helps manage complex cases, while MyChart now integrates an AI assistant that lets patients schedule via text, access billing information, and receive clear imaging summaries.
Allscripts includes robust scheduling tools as well, with its standout feature being the Predictive Scheduler. Using AI, it analyzes historical appointment trends to forecast demand, optimize scheduling, and minimize no-shows. This predictive functionality helps practices maintain full provider calendars and prioritize patients requiring quicker care.
Our Verdict:Epic wins this category, particularly for large health systems that require centralized scheduling and advanced AI-driven patient coordination.
Interoperability
Epic is an industry leader in interoperability, powered by its Care Everywhere network. This allows healthcare organizations across the globe to share patient data seamlessly, supporting coordinated care and collaboration across hospitals, clinics, and external systems. Epic also supports standard data exchange formats and integration with government programs.
Allscripts also provides strong interoperability through its dbMotion™ solution, integrating with a wide variety of EHRs regardless of vendor. It facilitates secure, high-volume data exchange between hospitals and practices, promoting better clinical collaboration.
Our Verdict:Epic holds a slight advantage due to its wider adoption and more extensive interoperability network across the healthcare industry.
Revenue Cycle Management
Epic delivers a unified revenue cycle management (RCM) solution that connects patient access, billing, and collections. It includes tools for verifying insurance, handling prior authorizations, generating patient cost estimates, and managing claims—all designed to streamline the financial side of care delivery.
Allscripts also provides a robust RCM system featuring registration, eligibility checks, coding, denial management, and analytics. It grants access to expert billing specialists who help ensure accurate claim submission and manage collections effectively to reduce bad debt.
Our Verdict: It’s a tie. Both Epic and Allscripts offer comprehensive revenue cycle tools, though Epic suits larger systems while Allscripts provides hands-on billing support for smaller practices.
Pricing Plans For Epic And Allscripts
Pricing is an important factor to consider when selecting an EMR or EHR system, especially for practices that need to balance functionality with budget constraints. Both Epic and Allscripts offer customized pricing models, allowing practices to tailor solutions according to their specific operational and financial needs.
Epic Pricing Breakdown
Epic operates on a custom pricing model, which is based on the size and requirements of the healthcare organization. Costs can vary based on factors such as the number of users, features required, and the complexity of the implementation. This flexibility ensures that larger practices or healthcare systems can scale accordingly.
Allscripts Pricing Breakdown
Allscripts uses custom pricing based on practice size, specialty, and selected features. For practices that only need specific functions, the vendor offers individual modules like Veradigm® ePrescribe at $59/month/subscriber. This approach allows a practice to select necessary functions without committing to a complete system.
Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.
Comparing The Two
Both Epic and Allscripts offer custom pricing models that reflect an organization's scale and feature requirements. Epic serves large health systems requiring organization-wide implementation, while Allscripts serves community hospitals and physician groups across numerous specialties. The choice comes down to this: large health systems typically choose Epic, while community-based hospitals and specialty practices often find Allscripts a better fit.
Epic has earned recognition as an all-in-one system that excels in functionality and integration across large healthcare organizations. Users frequently highlight its ability to connect across various healthcare systems. Many reviewers highly appreciate its features, like billing and coding, medicine reconciliation, and appointment scheduling. However, some note that Epic can be overwhelming with frequent clicks, cluttered screens, and occasional system downtimes.
Allscripts, in contrast, is often praised for its user-friendly interface and straightforward functionality, making it particularly appealing to smaller practices. Users appreciate how easy it is to track patient progress and templates, though some report that Allscripts may have a lengthy implementation time and limited customization options.
Both platforms shine in their own way, Epic for its advanced capabilities in large healthcare settings, and Allscripts for its simplicity and adaptability for smaller practices.
The Final Word: Epic Or Allscripts?
Epic stands out for large health systems that need one unified system for their entire network. It's built to handle the complexity of coordinating care across many specialties and facilities.
Allscripts, on the other hand, is a solid match for community hospitals and specialty physician groups. Its focus on connecting different systems and its flexible tools work well for these environments.
While Allscripts works well for clinics and groups needing adaptable tools, Epic is the definitive choice here as it serves large health systems better. Its cohesive system and strong coordination for complex care make it the more capable choice for major healthcare networks.
