Columbus-based OhioHealth is moving newly acquired hospitals onto its Epic EHR so the health system can be on a unified platform.
The latest hospital to switch to Epic is Cambridge-based OhioHealth Southeastern Medical Center, which went live May 5 with the new EHR after being acquired in 2023. As part of a $29.1 million investment in IT upgrades, the hospital also got new network infrastructure and moved to Workday for human resources, supply chain and finance and Kronos for payroll; the Epic portion totaled $7.3 million.
“Being able to support one unified platform, rather than these separate, niche, disparate tools, we’re able to invest in the future development of our standard platform, rather than having to continue to invest in three or four platforms,” OhioHealth senior IT adviser Tina Eldridge, MSN, RN, told Becker’s. “Less than 10 niche apps will remain from the legacy tool set, so it really is a full-on replacement of the technology suite.”
The EHR implementation took 12 to 14 months, bringing in OhioHealth employees from across the system to train local staff on Epic. The hospital previously used a Meditech EHR for inpatient and Medent for outpatient.
“I would say the staff, the associates, nurses, as well as all the clinicians across the continuum here, were a little nervous,” said Gina Woods, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer of OhioHealth Southeastern Medical Center. “It was like buying a new car. When you get the new car, you’ve got a lot of bells and whistles to learn.”
But she said there’s been a lot of “excitement” as nurses appreciate the new efficiencies and streamlined documentation, as well as patient safety tools like condition alerts and medication safety checks, that come with Epic. She said they had “outgrown” their old system.
“It allows for a much greater ability for continuity of care between the hospital here and the employed physicians, as well as across the system, being able to dock in with other specialists, referral patterns being enhanced and improved,” said Joshua Knott, administrator of the OhioHealth Physician Group in Cambridge. “It’s the same chart, so they’re not having to switch between two different EMRs, one when they’re doing surgery, one when they’re in the office.”
Ms. Woods said a small hospital like Southeastern Medical Center likely couldn’t have afforded Epic without the investment from OhioHealth.
Patients now have access to Epic’s MyChart patient portal to schedule appointments, message providers and pay bills. The EHR also includes Hello World with text-based health reminders and the ability to text family members during surgeries. The health system is starting to use some of the new AI features embedded in the system as well.
“From a system IT perspective, we are always looking at, How do we take on new enhancements that are in development with Epic to continue to be able to serve patients better?” Ms. Eldridge said.
