Pikeville Medical Center (PMC), located in Pikeville, Kentucky, has recently been honored with Epic’s prestigious 2022 Good Install award, celebrating the successful implementation of its Electronic Health Records (EHR) system in June 2022. Epic, a leading EHR vendor, presents this annual award to a new customer that demonstrates exceptional success in EHR implementation.PMC’s achievement in receiving this accolade is the result of consistent excellence, with the hospital having been a member of Epic’s Gold Star program at Level 8 for the past two years, a remarkable accomplishment achieved through the application of Epic EHR best practices. The Gold Star program promotes ongoing improvement in clinical and financial outcomes through a ten level system. PMC’s Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Tony Damron, expressed his pride in the team’s efforts, highlighting PMC’s record for one of the fastest Epic system installations, commending the entire team for their remarkable work, a testament to their dedication. The implementation of the Epic EHR platform at PMC signifies a significant advancement in healthcare coordination. Clinicians and healthcare providers now have seamless access to clinical notes, physician orders, and test results, all contributing to improved patient care. Donovan Blackburn, PMC’s Chairman, President, and CEO, expressed his gratitude and pride in the dedicated healthcare heroes at PMC, emphasizing that PMC’s achievements would not have been possible without their collaborative efforts.
In Illinois, Midwestern University has embraced the adoption of an integrated Epic EHR system across various healthcare institutes, including the Dental Institute, Eye Institute, Multispecialty Clinic, and Therapy Institute. This integration aims to enhance the patient experience by allowing patients seeking care in multiple departments to access their health information conveniently within a single system. Furthermore, this integration supports care coordination by making patient records accessible throughout the Midwestern University Clinics. Patients will also benefit from improved appointment management options, secure messaging with their care teams, and consolidated billing information with online payment capabilities. The integration of Epic EHR is expected to streamline healthcare operations and enhance the overall quality of patient care.
Kathleen H. Goeppinger, PhD, President, and CEO of Midwestern University, highlighted the opportunity for faculty, staff, and students in clinics to learn and benefit from the integrated software, improving the patient experience and healthcare delivery.Ampla Health, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) based in Yuba City, CA, has chosen to leverage a cloud-based EHR system from eClinicalWorks to enhance operational workflows. With 134 providers, Ampla Health offers comprehensive medical and dental services to vulnerable populations in northern California.The implementation of eClinicalWorks V12 has resulted in significant time savings for staff, including improvements in prescription management, patient note-taking, scheduling, and administrative tasks. Dr. Mustafa Ammar, MD, at Ampla Health, emphasized how the enhanced functionalities of the eClinicalWorks EHR have empowered the healthcare center to provide inclusive healthcare while reducing administrative burdens and physician burnout. The eClinicalWorks Cloud EHR offers real-time patient data access, ePrescribing capabilities, AI-powered voice dictation software, and a floating toolbar that facilitates easy access to key functions. These improvements have the potential to optimize patient care delivery while improving overall efficiency.
RWJBarnabas Health, a New Jersey-based healthcare system, has earned the prestigious Epic Gold Stars Level 10 recognition for the second time this year, signifying excellence in its recent EHR implementation. The RWJBarnabas Health Epic Together EHR implementation project, a multimillion-dollar initiative rolled out over several years, achieved a “Perfect 10” during Epic’s Gold Star review for both its Wave 2 and Wave 3 implementations.Epic’s Stars Program assesses an organization’s EHR usability across various dimensions, including patient access, patient experience, clinical quality and safety, population health management, physician productivity, nursing, and clinical team productivity. RWJBarnabas Health’s Level 10 rating places it in the top 0.3 percent of all Epic users, surpassing even renowned healthcare providers such as Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, and Cedars-Sinai.RWJBarnabas Health’s success in achieving Level 10 recognition is particularly noteworthy, given the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite initial expectations of reduced productivity, the healthcare system not only maintained its EHR implementation progress but increased productivity by 43 percent. This accomplishment was made possible through careful planning, a strategic pause, and the commitment and collaboration of the Epic Together team.
