Epic Skills Assessment System & Workflow Analysis 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An Epic analyst is asked to document the 'as-is' state of a referral management workflow. Which data collection method provides the RICHEST qualitative insight into current-state problems?
- Reviewing system-generated reports only
- Direct observation of staff performing the workflow in their natural work environment (Correct answer)
- Sending a survey to department managers
- Examining Epic security templates
Correct answer: Direct observation of staff performing the workflow in their natural work environment
Direct observation captures undocumented steps, workarounds, and environmental factors that surveys and reports often miss.
Question 2: In Epic, a 'build-to-workflow' alignment review is conducted to ensure that:
- Server hardware meets performance benchmarks
- The system configuration supports and reflects the intended clinical or operational workflow (Correct answer)
- All user accounts have been provisioned correctly
- Downtime procedures are documented
Correct answer: The system configuration supports and reflects the intended clinical or operational workflow
A build-to-workflow alignment review confirms that Epic's configuration (templates, rules, order sets) actually enables the workflow stakeholders have agreed upon.
Question 3: A workflow analyst identifies that two departments use the same Epic order set differently, leading to inconsistent patient outcomes. The MOST appropriate recommendation is to:
- Allow each department to continue its own practice to respect autonomy
- Facilitate a multidisciplinary meeting to agree on a standardized evidence-based workflow and update the order set accordingly (Correct answer)
- Delete the order set and require manual ordering
- Lock all order set fields to prevent any modifications
Correct answer: Facilitate a multidisciplinary meeting to agree on a standardized evidence-based workflow and update the order set accordingly
Bringing stakeholders together to agree on an evidence-based standard supports both clinical consistency and sustainable build governance.
Question 4: Which of the following BEST describes a 'future-state workflow' in an Epic implementation project?
- The workflow that will be used during scheduled system downtime
- The optimized process design that the Epic build will be configured to support after go-live (Correct answer)
- The workflow currently used before Epic is implemented
- The emergency escalation procedure for critical errors
Correct answer: The optimized process design that the Epic build will be configured to support after go-live
The future-state workflow is the redesigned, optimized process that drives Epic's build specifications and training content.
Question 5: When performing a system analysis for an Epic upgrade, an analyst should prioritize reviewing which of the following FIRST?
- User satisfaction scores from last year
- Impact assessment of deprecated features and changed functionality on existing workflows (Correct answer)
- Network bandwidth utilization logs
- Training room scheduling availability
Correct answer: Impact assessment of deprecated features and changed functionality on existing workflows
Understanding which features are deprecated or changed in the new version is critical to assessing risk to current workflows and planning mitigation steps.
Question 6: A process improvement team wants to reduce patient wait times in an outpatient clinic using Epic data. Which approach is MOST analytically sound?
- Ask the front desk staff to estimate wait times verbally
- Extract cycle time data from Epic (e.g., check-in to roomed timestamps) to identify bottlenecks with data (Correct answer)
- Review only patient satisfaction survey comments
- Observe one patient encounter and generalize the findings
Correct answer: Extract cycle time data from Epic (e.g., check-in to roomed timestamps) to identify bottlenecks with data
Epic timestamp data provides objective, measurable cycle times that can pinpoint exactly where delays occur rather than relying on anecdote.
Question 7: An analyst is asked to evaluate whether Epic's SmartText tools are being utilized effectively in provider notes. Which metric is MOST relevant to this analysis?
- Number of active SmartText records in the system
- Adoption rate showing what percentage of notes use SmartText versus fully manual free-text entry (Correct answer)
- Total server storage consumed by note data
- Number of SmartText records created per month
Correct answer: Adoption rate showing what percentage of notes use SmartText versus fully manual free-text entry
Adoption rate measures actual usage in practice, which is the true indicator of whether SmartText is delivering workflow efficiency.
Epic Skills Assessment System & Workflow Analysis 3
An Epic analyst is asked to document the 'as-is' state of a referral management workflow.
Which data collection method provides the RICHEST qualitative insight into current-state problems?