In early February, Lexington, Ky.-based UK HealthCare, part of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, shared that it had invested $95 million into rolling out Epic and Workday software, a move that aims to unify operations and improve patient care across the state.
Project Blue Connect extends UK HealthCare’s Epic EHR system, which was installed in 2020, to its Ashland, Ky.-based King’s Daughters Health System and Morehead-based St. Claire HealthCare. King’s Daughters was acquired in 2021 and St. Claire HealthCare was acquired in 2024.
“With that comes the opportunity to try to take the two new organizations and bring them under one enterprise resource planning system,” Craig Collins, senior vice president and CFO of UK HealthCare, said during a Becker’s CFO+Revenue Cycle Podcast episode. “Along with Epic, we’re implementing Workday for both St. Claire and King’s Daughters.”
Mr. Collins said the project will span 18 months, with Workday expected to go live April 1, 2026, and Epic to go live July 1, 2026.
UK HealthCare is also implementing identity access management across the system to improve efficiency, data management and patient outcomes.
“It’s a big investment to do this, but the outcomes, the quality and the opportunity to have shared data across the Commonwealth on our patients is one of the reasons that we’re doing this,” he said. “We’re really having the opportunity to touch patients and to manage their care differently. We’re going back to the basics in many ways around cost containment and around process improvement.”
The investments come amid broader growth at UK HealthCare. The health system has partnered with its college of agriculture to combat food insecurities in the areas it serves. UK HealthCare is also constructing a $781 million UK Cancer and Advanced Ambulatory building, which will house the UK Markey Cancer Center, a comprehensive spine center, ambulatory surgery space and outpatient services. The building is expected to open in 2027.
Lastly, the system is currently in the planning phase for a hospital expansion set for 2033, which will replace its Good Samaritan Hospital in Lexington and will add an additional 256 beds.
“All of this said, it’s to really support the opportunities for us to take transfer patients and provide that high level, advanced care to the commonwealth, but then be able to send those patients home … into a safe environment for their post-hospital care,” Mr. Collins said.
