Trinity Health, a 92 hospital system headquartered in Livonia, Mich., is nearing completion of its $800 million EHR rollout and expects to be the largest single‑instance Epic user in the country next year, according to CEO Mike Slubowski.
Mr. Slubowski told Becker’s the single instance of Epic is on track to be live across all ministries by spring 2026. The timeline was pushed back about eight months after the widespread Change Healthcare cyberattack in 2023 delayed several system rollouts.
The Catholic health system is gearing up for its 12th and final implementation “wave,” or regional rollout. It is anticipated to go live with Epic at Maywood, Ill.-based Loyola Medicine in February, Chief Clinical and Community Division Operations Officer Dan Roth, MD, told Becker’s. The phased rollout has allowed the health system to refine and optimize implementations in diverse markets, from large metropolitan campuses to rural hospitals.
Dr. Roth emphasized that the final phase of the rollout is focused on “maximizing duality” — optimizing the core system to meet clinical, operational and financial needs while also adding new tools so the platform continues to evolve. “We have to continue to optimize the system to meet our clinical, operational and financial needs while we have successful implementations, for one, and then secondly, continue to add new tools to it so it continues to grow and develop,” he said.
Rather than “chasing shiny objects,” Mr. Slubowski said Trinity Health is leaning into the capabilities of its centralized Epic platform to drive future innovation.
“There are a bazillion vendors out there trying to sell us the next cool thing in AI, but we’re taking a more grounded approach,” he said. “We want to maximize that value before we go out and buy new tools.”
This conservative, platform‑first approach may pay dividends as cost discipline and operational efficiency become increasingly essential in the current financial landscape for health systems. By consolidating multiple legacy systems into one Epic instance, Trinity Health aims to realize long‑term value from interoperability, standardized workflows and deeper data insights.
With the finish line in sight, Trinity Health’s leaders said they remain focused on delivering a unified user experience for clinicians and patients alike, while preparing the system to harness Epic’s growing suite of AI‑driven applications in the future.
