Door County Medical Center in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., has launched an Epic EHR system through a partnership with Hospital Sisters Health System, based in Springfield, Ill., an arrangement that connects patient records across the organizations and reduces paperwork for shared patients.
The rural medical center began exploring a transition to Epic in 2019 but delayed the move for several years because of cost. Door County Medical Center CEO Brian Stephens said in a Feb. 12 news release that the organization ultimately decided in summer 2023 that the investment was worthwhile.
Instead of building its own Epic environment, the medical center chose to lease Hospital Sisters Health System’s Epic instance — a decision the organizations said was more affordable and efficient than other options.
The project officially began in December 2024 and the system went live Feb. 7.
Mr. Stephens said leasing an existing Epic environment gave the organization a proven foundation and allowed it to move forward without starting from scratch.
Hospital Sisters Health System, a 40% minority owner of Door County Medical Center, has been a formal partner since 2016. Door County Medical Center remains 60% locally owned and governed by its nonprofit board of directors, according to the news release.
Leaders said the shared Epic platform will consolidate patient notes, messages, records and test results into one database for patients receiving care from both organizations.
Door County Medical Center partners with Prevea Medical Group to provide specialty services such as cardiology, endocrinology, oncology, ear, nose and throat care and vascular surgery, among others. The news release said having clinicians and facilities on the same Epic instance will allow records from primary care and specialty visits to be accessed in one place.
Mr. Stephens said Epic will also enable new tools, including AI-supported clinical documentation and more advanced search capabilities within the medical record.
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