NM EpicCare Link

Collaboration leads to better care. NM EpicCare Link is a secure web-based app that connects qualifying organizations to their patients' medical records at Northwestern Medicine. It helps maintain continuity of care for shared patients.

With NM EpicCare Link, users at external healthcare organizations can:

  • View patient records, lab results, diagnostic reports and clinical summaries
  • Place orders
  • Request referrals
  • Securely communicate with clinicians

NM EpicCare Link is typically used by:

  • Referring physicians
  • Office staff
  • Community-based care organizations
  • Payors
  • Post-Acute Network facilities (membership required)
  • Other healthcare entities

Better Access With NM EpicCare Link

With NM EpicCare Link, Northwestern Medicine is pleased to offer better solutions to unique workflows, including:

  • Dermatology pathology: Dermatology pathologists can use NM EpicCare Link to view lab results. To enroll, contact Northwestern Medicine Laboratory Services at 312.695.1413.
  • Research studies: Research monitors can securely access and review research studies through NM EpicCare Link. To enroll, please coordinate with your local research study contacts.

How to Qualify

Your organization must meet one of the following criteria to qualify for NM EpicCare Link access:

  • Have a Northwestern Medicine-credentialed physician on staff. This physician will designate a site administrator to manage access for your office staff. The site administrator is responsible for maintaining staff access and compliance.
  • Have a direct collaboration with a Northwestern Medicine sponsoring manager. For non-physician offices (such as vendors or billing offices) the sponsoring manager will serve as the site administrator, overseeing staffing access and compliance.
  • Qualify for a limited NM EpicCare Link role.  Referring physicians who are not credentialed with Northwestern Medicine may qualify for this role. They may only place orders and referrals, and view finalized order results and signed encounter reports. Access is limited to referring physicians in the office.

Meeting these qualifications ensures secure, role-appropriate access, enabling efficient collaboration while following Northwestern Medicine policies.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How Do I Become a Northwestern Medicine-Credentialed Physician?
  • What if I’m Not Credentialed with Northwestern Medicine?
  • What Is a Site Administrator?
  • How Do We Update Our Site Administrator?
  • What Roles Are Available for NM EpicCare Link?
  • Is There a Cost to Enroll?
  • We Applied for Access, What’s Next?
  • How Often Do Staff Need to Log Into Their Account?
  • Are Staff Required to Have Their Own Separate Accounts?
  • What if I’m Locked Out of My Account?
  • How Can I Become a Member of the Northwestern Medicine Post-Acute Network?
  • Are NM EpicCare Link and Community Connect the same app?
  • I’m a Researcher Requesting Access to Review a Study, Where Should I Begin?
  • What if My Organization Does Not Qualify?
Email our Medical Staffing Office at msadmin@nm.org.
You may qualify for a limited NM EpicCare Link role. This role lets you place orders and referrals, and view finalized order results and signed encounter reports.

A site administrator serves as the primary liaison between your office and Northwestern Medicine. They are responsible for:

  • Managing user access and maintaining staff permissions within NM EpicCare Link
  • Notifying Northwestern Medicine of staffing updates to keep records current
  • Ensuring your organization follows our access policies, security protocols and best practices

They uphold these responsibilities to facilitate secure and efficient collaborative care.

Please email the Collaborative Care team at provisioning@nm.org. Include your office name and the names of both the former and new site administrators.

We give people in the following roles access:

  • Authorized vendors
  • Billers
  • Clinical and general users
  • Gift of Hope clinicians
  • Laboratory staff
  • Non-credentialed referring physicians
  • ROI – payor nurses
No, there is no cost to enroll. To enroll, you must meet one of the qualifying criteria and submit a new site request.

After you submit a new site request for enrollment, allow one to two weeks for us to review your request and register your account.

If you’re approved, you should get an email notifying you. The email will include your account ID and login instructions.

Each user should log in every 30 to 60 days to keep their account active. For security purposes, accounts are automatically deactivated after 90 days of inactivity.

Before your account is deactivated, you will get an email reminder asking you to log in.

If your account is deactivated due to inactivity, your site administrator will need to submit a new provisioning request to reactivate your access.

Yes. In accordance with Northwestern Medicine Information Security and Compliance, shared accounts are not allowed.

All staff requesting access to NM EpicCare Link must maintain their own account, including separate email addresses and phone numbers.

For login help, including locked accounts and password resets, please reset your password. If you are unable to perform a reset, please contact the Northwestern Medicine Service Center at 312.926.HELP (4357).
For membership inquiries, please email the Northwestern Medicine Post-Acute Network team at postacutenetwork@nm.org.

No. NM EpicCare Link is a web-based app we provide to external offices to view patient medical records for no cost.

Community Connect is an extension of our electronic medical record (EMR) system. It provides a fully integrated experience without requiring smaller offices to implement their own comprehensive EMR system.

There is a fee for Community Connect and all physicians in your office must be credentialed within the Northwestern Medicine Physician Network.

To enroll, please coordinate with your local research study contacts.

Patients can request their medical records and images from our Medical Records Office. Please visit our webpage on requesting medical records and images for more information.

If your organization has an electronic medical record system, you may be able to access some shared patient information from other organizations. Epic users may be able to retrieve patient medical records via CareEverywhere, Epic’s integrated tool for secure medical data sharing.

Contact your IT department to confirm available features within your EMR system.