Today I signed one of the most important contracts I have signed since becoming CEO two-and-a-half years ago — I signed the contract to install Epic as our enterprise-wide electronic health record and billing system!  Why Epic? It basically came down to one thing: hundreds of our caregivers tested the options available to us and they resoundingly selected Epic as the best system.

We can’t expect you to make UMass Memorial Health Care the best place to give care and the best place to get care if we don’t give you the best electronic health record (EHR) system available and so you will have it — Epic is coming.

At the beginning of this process, I asked Drs. Bill Corbett and Matthias Walz to head a task force to develop a plan to move us off our current system onto one that is more dependable, user friendly and better integrates all the information our caregivers need to provide the highest quality care possible for our patients. Our CIO Tim Tarnowski and his team worked very closely with the task force. During our evaluation of potential software solutions, our task force ranked Epic highest on important evaluation criteria.

Epic is also the recognized leader in its industry. In 2014, the company was recognized as overall Best in KLAS for Software Suite and Physician Practice Vendor. More importantly, when surveyed, a majority of our caregivers strongly preferred Epic to its competitor and during our demonstration sessions attendees indicated a strong preference for Epic.

Putting the patient at the center of all we do will always be our primary focus. Epic makes that a lot easier. Imagine a single sign-on solution for all of your needs throughout the workday. Among the many benefits Epic offers our caregivers and patients are a fully integrated system that :

• Enables enhanced coordination of care across the entire continuum
• Enhances communication among all care providers and their patients
• Offers complete and accurate information for each care provider and their patients
• Improves patient experience and patient privacy controls
• Provides population health management tools

I want to thank the members of the task force for all of their hard work. Along with Bill and Matthias the task force members includes:

Click image to view full list.

Our Idea of the Week comes from UMass Memorial Medical Group. One of its departments, the Community Medical Group from Fitchburg Family Practice was having a problem finding an appropriate medium for communicating the registry needs and goals to the clinical and administrative team. The existing medium was not large enough and all of the information could not be reported on a single page. Recognizing the problem, Dr. Carla Christos suggested adding a large white board near the site where registry needs, goals, progress and results can be posted, tracked and viewed regularly by everyone on the team. The board provides valuable patient information and is a resource for the clinical and administrative team to highlight team achievements for any given period. Well done!

You can now find the Idea of the Week archive by clicking the Idea System tab at the top of this page.

Thanks for all your great ideas and for taking great care of our patients and one another,

Eric