UCH Epic Cosmos

Epic Cosmos

Epic Cosmos is a collaborative dataset created by Epic Systems, involving a community of health systems that use Epic's electronic health record (EHR) software. The primary goal of Cosmos is to improve patient care by combining data from participating organizations to make new discoveries and advance medicine. This dataset integrates both inpatient and outpatient records into a comprehensive, longitudinal record, including diagnoses, medications, and patient-generated data.

Key Features and Benefits

1. Comprehensive Data Integration: Cosmos integrates data from various sources, including inpatient and outpatient charts, diagnoses, medications, and patient-generated data. This creates a single, comprehensive record that follows patients as they move between health systems.
2. Large and Diverse Dataset: The dataset includes information from over 289 million patients, 1,626 hospitals, and 37,700 clinics. This extensive data pool provides a representative sample of the diverse patient population in the United States.
3. Real-Time Clinical Insights: Cosmos powers tools at the point of care, providing clinicians with insights tailored to the patient in front of them. This includes features like Best Care Choices, which shows how similar patients responded to treatments, and Look-Alikes, which helps providers collaborate on rare conditions.
4. Research and Publications: Researchers in the Cosmos community have published numerous papers using Cosmos data. These publications cover a wide range of topics, from vaccine effectiveness to racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare.
5. Governance and Privacy: Cosmos is governed by an elected council of 15 members from the Cosmos community. The governance structure ensures high standards of security and privacy, with strict rules on data use and protection. Patient identifiers are removed before any data is moved, and all actions in Cosmos are audited to ensure appropriate use.
6. Speed and Accessibility: Once approved for access, clinicians and researchers can get answers on demand without needing to submit data requests. This rapid access to data supports timely decision-making and research.

Practical Applications

1. Personalized Patient Care: By leveraging the collective knowledge from millions of clinical decisions, clinicians can provide more personalized and evidence-based care to their patients. This is particularly useful for managing chronic conditions and rare diseases.
2. Enhanced Collaboration: Cosmos enables providers to connect with peers across the community, facilitating collaboration on complex cases and rare conditions. This network of support helps improve patient outcomes and fosters a collaborative healthcare environment.
3. Condition-Specific Tools: Tools like condition-specific growth charts help clinicians and families track the progress of children with chronic conditions, providing a more accurate picture of their development compared to standard growth charts.

Epic Cosmos represents a significant advancement in the use of big data in healthcare, offering a powerful resource for improving patient care, advancing medical research, and fostering collaboration among healthcare providers.

To request a User Account, follow these instructions:

• Navigate to Epic Cosmos portal
• Click on "Request Access" and fill out the form using your UC Health credentials and submit access request