Understanding Epic Canto

What is Epic Canto?

Epic Canto is Epic's mobile app for the iPad. Its App Store listing says it gives authorized clinical users of Epic secure access to clinic schedules, hospital patient lists, health summaries, test results and notes, and supports dictation and In Basket access. Each organization licenses Canto and decides which features its clinicians can use.

Canto is not a separate record. It is a window into the organization's own Epic system, so what a clinician sees depends on that organization's configuration and the user's security settings.

What can clinicians do in Canto?

Clinicians use Canto to review patient information, check results, see schedules and patient lists, handle selected In Basket folders and capture clinical images. UI Health Care's Epic education pages list these tasks for Canto and its phone counterpart Haiku.

• Schedules and lists: Clinic schedules and hospital patient lists for the day.
• Chart review: Health summaries, notes and test results, with filters by order type, encounter and date range.
• Result notifications: Subscriptions that alert the clinician when lab or imaging results are available.
• In Basket: Review of selected message folders.
• Dictation: Voice dictation, as noted in the App Store listing.
• Media capture: Photos and videos taken with the iPad camera and stored with the patient's record.
• Video visits: UI Health Care describes running video visits through Canto with its video platform.

Image capture is one of the most valued features in specialties such as dermatology, wound care and plastic surgery. Taking a photo straight into the chart avoids personal phones and email, which are a common privacy risk.

How is Canto different from Haiku and Rover?

Canto is for the iPad, Haiku is for phones and Rover is for nurses and other clinical staff. UI Health Care describes Canto as Epic's mobile app for the iPad and Haiku as its app for Android and iOS smartphones, with Epic Limerick extending Haiku to Apple Watch.

• Canto: iPad app for physicians and other providers, with a larger screen for reviewing results, notes and images.
• Haiku: Phone app with similar provider features, suited to quick checks and notifications.
• Rover: Mobile app focused on nursing and clinical staff workflows such as medication administration and documentation at the bedside.
• Secure chat: UI Health Care's material describes chat sound settings across Haiku, Canto and Rover, so messaging spans all three.

Organizations usually offer providers both Canto and Haiku, and let each clinician choose the device that suits their work. Rover is planned separately, because it supports different roles and often runs on shared hospital devices.

How is Canto set up on an iPad?

Canto is set up by installing the app from the App Store and then loading the organization's configuration, which points the app at the right Epic environment. UI Health Care tells users to open a configuration web page in the browser before first launching Canto, select the iPad link, and then log in with their organization credentials.

• Install: Download Epic Canto from the App Store; the current listing requires a recent version of iPadOS.
• Configure: Open the organization's configuration link or code so the app connects to the right Epic server.
• Accept and log in: Accept the license terms and sign in with the organization's account.
• Secure: Organizations may add PINs, device management and multifactor sign-in according to their policies.

UI Health Care's material also describes switching between organizations in Haiku, which matters for clinicians who work at more than one Epic site. Each organization still controls its own configuration and access. Because UI Health Care's instructions stress loading the configuration before first launching the app, that order is a sensible first check when setup fails.

What are the limits of Canto?

Canto does not offer everything the desktop does, and clinicians notice. Public reviews on the App Store describe tasks that some users could not complete in Canto at their organization, such as writing certain orders, editing notes or reaching older results, and ask for more desktop features.

Two points help set expectations. First, Epic states that each organization decides the exact feature set, so a missing feature may be a local configuration choice rather than a product limit. Second, Canto is designed for review and quick actions, and most organizations still expect full documentation and complex ordering on a workstation.

The reviews are still useful input. They show what clinicians want from a tablet: handoff editing, medication history, refills with context, sorting and filtering of In Basket items, and note editing away from a desk. An organization planning its mobile setup can use that list to ask its Epic team which of those tasks are possible today and which need another approach.

• Check local settings: Ask the Epic team which Canto features are enabled before assuming a gap.
• Match tasks to devices: Use Canto for review, messages and capture, and the desktop for long notes and order sets.
• Collect feedback: Track which tasks clinicians try to do on the iPad, to inform future configuration.

How should clinicians handle privacy on a Canto iPad?

Clinicians should treat a Canto iPad like a workstation that leaves the building. It holds access to patient records, so a lost or shared device is a privacy incident unless the organization's controls are in place and the clinician follows them.

• Lock the device: Use a device passcode and the app PIN or sign-in the organization requires.
• Keep media in the app: Capture clinical photos through Canto rather than the iPad camera roll, so images go to the chart and not to personal storage.
• Watch the screen: Results and notes are easy to read over a shoulder in a corridor or a cafe.
• Report losses fast: The sooner a lost device is reported, the sooner access can be removed.
• Separate personal use: On a personal iPad, keep work data inside the managed app and avoid sharing the device with family.

Notifications deserve a second look. Result alerts are useful, but lock-screen previews can show patient details to anyone nearby. Clinicians should check what their notifications display and adjust the settings their organization allows.

How should an organization roll out Canto?

Roll out Canto in stages, starting with a group of providers who already want mobile access, and use their experience to shape the configuration before wider release. A short pilot reveals which features matter most and which settings frustrate users.

Training can be brief, since Canto mirrors parts of the desktop, but it should cover setup, result notifications, In Basket folders and media capture. UI Health Care, for example, publishes a quick start guide and short handouts on filtering results, subscribing to result notifications and capturing images.

Measure use after launch. If few providers open Canto after the first month, ask why: the features may not match their work, setup may be confusing, or the device policy may be too restrictive.

How does Canto fit into an organization's mobile strategy?

Canto fits as the standard iPad tool for providers, alongside Haiku on phones and Rover for nursing. A mobile strategy decides which roles get which app, on which devices, with which security controls, and where custom tools are needed for tasks Epic's apps do not cover.

• Devices: Personal or organization-owned iPads, and how each is managed.
• Roles: Which provider groups get Canto, and whether residents and advanced practice clinicians do too.
• Security: PINs, session timeouts, multifactor sign-in and remote wipe.
• Support: Who helps a clinician whose iPad stops connecting at 7 a.m.
• Gaps: Workflows such as specialty forms, research data or device readings that need a different tool.

When does an organization need custom mobile tools?

An organization needs custom mobile tools when a workflow sits outside what Canto, Haiku and Rover support, or when the users are not Epic clinicians at all. Examples include specialty data collection, research studies, care coordinator tools and apps for patients and caregivers.

These tools usually connect to Epic through standard FHIR APIs and SMART on FHIR launch, with the organization's approval. They read and write only the data their workflow needs, and leave the core chart to Epic's own apps. Building on standard interfaces also means the tool keeps working through Epic upgrades.

Before building, check whether the need can be met by configuring Epic's own apps. A feature that is simply switched off in Canto is cheaper to enable than any custom app. Custom work makes sense when the workflow is specialized, the users are outside the Epic license, or the tool must combine Epic data with data from other systems.

How Agnotic can help

Agnotic Technologies builds Epic integrations and mobile tools that work alongside Epic's own apps. We help organizations map which workflows belong in Canto, Haiku and Rover, and build companion apps on FHIR and SMART on FHIR for the ones that do not.

For vendors, we design mobile products that connect to Epic through approved interfaces and fit cleanly beside the tools clinicians already use. That includes sign-in through the organization's identity provider, patient context from Epic and the security reviews health systems run before approving a new app.

Sources

• Apple App Store: Epic Canto
• UI Health Care Epic Education: Canto and Haiku
• UI Health Care Epic Education: Canto iPad device setup