As hospitals and health systems modernize their IT infrastructure, the cost of these overhauls is climbing into the millions — and in some cases, billions.
At Columbus-based OhioHealth, efforts are underway to bring newly acquired hospitals onto a unified Epic electronic health record system. The most recent to make the switch is OhioHealth Southeastern Medical Center in Cambridge, which officially went live with Epic on May 5, following its acquisition in 2023.
The transition is part of a broader $29.1 million investment aimed at modernizing IT across the organization. In addition to the EHR implementation, the funding supports upgrades to network infrastructure and a shift to Workday for human resources, supply chain, and finance operations, along with Kronos for payroll management.
New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health is also undertaking one of the largest health IT transformations in its history — a $1.2 billion initiative to bring the entire health system onto a single instance of Epic’s electronic health record platform.
The project will replace more than 30 disparate medical record systems used across Northwell’s hospitals and ambulatory sites, aiming to streamline care coordination, enhance data-driven decision-making, and support long-term scalability.
“It’s essentially like ripping out our electronic health record and backend revenue cycle processes — the central nervous system of our organization — and replacing it with Epic across the enterprise,” Northwell CFO Michele Cusack said on Becker’s CFO and Revenue Cycle Podcast. “We’re going live with our first wave now and continuing the rollout over the next two years. We’re excited about the efficiencies a single platform will bring — not just for our team members, but for our patients as well.”
Northwell’s second go-live wave is expected to be one of the largest in Epic’s history, covering more than $8 billion in revenue and involving 40,000 users simultaneously, according to Ms. Cusack.
As health systems grow in size and complexity, large-scale IT overhauls are becoming essential investments to support unified care delivery, operational efficiency and long-term digital strategy.
