While Epic sends staffers to health systems to educate healthcare workers about its EHR, the dynamic goes the other way as well.
Health systems around the country routinely dispatch employees to Epic’s massive headquarters in small-town Wisconsin to learn how to implement the company’s software.
“We have people now coming here on a relatively regular basis,” Sha Edathumparampil, chief digital and information officer of Coral Gables-based Baptist Health South Florida, told Becker’s at Epic’s Verona, Wis., campus in August. “We had people last week and in the coming weeks, leading all the way up to October, when we expect them to finish with the certification and everything.”
Baptist Health South Florida, a 12-hospital system, is switching to Epic, with a “big-bang” go-live set for mid-2027.
“I have a team up there right now in Verona that’s doing all the operational planning with them,” said Steven Holman, president and CEO of new Epic customer Terre Haute, Ind.-based Union Health, during a September interview. “We had 12 up there [in August]. And right now, I think there’s nine there.”
Health system employees often have to go back and forth to the EHR company’s home multiple times during implementations, when they are certified for roles such as Epic analyst. The stays last a handful of days each and add up to several weeks total.
“I don’t have to send all 20 people at one time, so we’re staging that,” said John McDaniel, CIO of Minot, N.D.-Trinity Health, which plans to turn on Epic in November 2026. “So if you’re going to work with Beacon, you’re going to go this time. If you’re going to work with Cupid, you’re going to go another time. You’re going to work with Dorothy … you’re going to go at different times. It’s not a huge impact or drain on the existing organization, since I’m not doing it all at once.”
About 100 employees of Mullica Hill, N.J.-based Inspira Health have traveled to Epic for certification ahead of the four-hospital system’s July 2026 EHR launch.
“Most of the work now, though, is done on-site here,” said Warren Moore, executive vice president and COO of Inspira Health. “And so the Epic team actually comes here once a month and spends an entire week with us. And then all the other work is done virtually between Wisconsin and here.”
It’s not just during implementations. Health systems regularly have staffers attend Epic’s annual Users Group Meeting and Expert Group Meetings, in part to get rebates on their EHR costs.
“We only sent about 15 people this year because we’re stretched a little financially now,” said David Kaelber, MD, PhD, chief health informatics officer of Cleveland-based MetroHealth, in August. “We do report-outs to other executives. I’m in the midst of putting together a PowerPoint where we’ll talk about all of the lessons learned and things that we want to do differently after going to the Users Group [Meeting].”
