Penn Medicine is taking an uncommon step with its next major ambulatory project, bringing its electronic health record vendor into the building design process from the outset.
The Philadelphia-based health system is working closely with Epic to reimagine workflows, technology integration and the patient experience at Penn Medicine Montgomeryville, a new multispecialty outpatient facility slated to open in 2027 in Montgomeryville, Pa. Leaders say the collaboration reflects a broader shift in how health systems view clinics, not just as physical spaces but as digitally enabled care environments designed to evolve over time.
Epic has been a core technology partner for Penn Medicine for decades, but the Montgomeryville project prompted a deeper level of collaboration than a traditional EHR implementation. According to Srinath Adusumalli, MD, Penn Medicine’s chief health information officer, the timing and scope of the clinic made it a natural candidate for co-design.
“We’re looking into some flagship projects we can collaborate on from the ground up, and this project made sense to work directly together on given the timing of what we were trying to do in Montgomeryville,” Dr. Adusumalli said.
Before engaging Epic, Penn Medicine spent months internally defining what the future ambulatory experience should look like, working with operational leaders, designers and architects to rethink patient arrival, in-room care and checkout. Those early conversations helped clarify where technology could meaningfully reshape workflows and where flexibility would be needed as tools evolve.
Once Epic joined the process, collaboration focused on specific ambulatory workflows rather than isolated technology features. That approach led to multi-day, in-person working sessions between Penn Medicine and Epic teams, a departure from more typical virtual optimization efforts.
“When we were onsite together, we spent one day in a conference room working through what our requirements were, what plans Epic had for addressing those requirements, and what their roadmap looked like,” Dr. Adusumalli said.
The second day shifted from discussion to hands-on design, with teams working inside a full-scale mock exam room at Penn Medicine’s construction facility. Seeing workflows play out in a physical space helped both sides refine how technology would be integrated into exam rooms and ultimately led to changes in construction plans.
“Based on this work, we did make material changes to the layout and approach to construction of our exam rooms,” Dr. Adusumalli said.
The in-person collaboration also gave Penn Medicine greater visibility into Epic’s ambulatory technology roadmap, helping leaders align long-term building decisions with future capabilities. Just as importantly, working together in the mock exam room clarified how clinicians and patients would interact with technology during real-world visits.
“Spending time in our mock exam room allowed us to hone how patients and clinicians would interact with technology in and around the exam room,” Dr. Adusumalli said.
Penn Medicine leaders describe the Montgomeryville effort as a shift from traditional vendor relationships toward co-creation, jointly designing experiences that do not yet fully exist.
“This collaboration is really about co-creating and deeply collaborating on a novel ambulatory experience for our patients and clinicians, considering current technology that works well and creating what’s needed that doesn’t yet exist,” Dr. Adusumalli said.
As planning continues toward the clinic’s 2027 opening, Penn Medicine hopes the work with Epic can serve as a model for how health systems and EHR vendors collaborate on the next generation of outpatient care.
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