In July of 2020, San Antonio-based University Health completed its $170 million Epic EHR implementation, moving the health system and UH clinics to Epic's cloud-based EHR. As COVID-19 cases were surging and infection control precautions were in full effect, UH had to pivot to remote and video training.
Bill Phillips, University Health's senior vice president and CIO, said the system "had to support the go-live process mostly internally, as the Epic support team members were unable to join us on site."
Though the virtual process may have presented additional challenges, Mr. Phillips said it was necessary to further its long-term strategy of always improving its patient experience, quality of care, efficiency and access.
"The Epic EHR is a game-changer for us, affecting almost every aspect of University Health from patient care to all operational and financial systems," Mr. Phillips told Becker's. "Without it, we would not have been able to stand up the largest mass vaccination site in San Antonio beginning Jan. 4, 2021, efficiently recording and reporting the delivery of brand new life-saving vaccines to hundreds of thousands of people."