We’re continuing to integrate our technology across Ballad Health as we move toward our system-wide Epic go-live. We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress on the necessary foundational work on our network, domain and data centers, and these projects will be completed throughout 2019 and into 2020.
In order to accommodate this important work, we’ve shifted our go-live dates for the Epic implementation. Our new target go-live dates for Epic are June 1, 2020, for Ballad Health ambulatory care and Oct. 1, 2020, for Ballad Health acute care.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Our IT leaders have identified time lines for important technology updates, such as creating one network, one domain and one approach to our data center positioning, and updating all computers to Windows 10. We’ve heard through listening sessions, the system-wide team member poll and in other settings that you are eager for these important changes and we’re confident they will improve your workflow and help us operate more seamlessly as a system. It is also necessary to complete these changes in order to make the transition to Epic as smooth as possible.
BENEFITS OF THESE UPDATES
All of these changes will make it easier for our teams to operate as an integrated whole, eliminate connectivity barriers, and help streamline our daily workflow. Among the improvements:
- By establishing one network, we can also streamline security processes, such as eliminating the need to use a different badge at each facility.
- You will be able to more easily access email and the intranet, regardless of where you are within the Ballad Health system. This will eliminate the need to log in and out of different email systems, create easier access for calendars, and create the ability to look up Ballad Health team members in a common phone directory.
- By consolidating our data centers, we will equip the system with stronger fail-safes to keep Epic and other critical technologies running in the event of extreme power outages.
- We are also making the system-wide transition to Windows 10 to keep our technologies as up-to-date as possible.
GREAT WORK SO FAR
Many of our team members have spent countless hours planning for our Epic implementation, and we’re able to make these necessary changes now because of their great work over the past year. Even though our time lines are shifting, the work done over the past year has laid an important foundation without which we could not do this work. We appreciate all the work our IT team and our Epic liaisons have done to get us closer to this important milestone for Ballad Health.
MORE INFO
More information will be shared with you as we reach milestones and work together toward our Epic implementation. You can see a more in-depth version of this announcement, and a list of frequently asked questions, on the Ballad Health intranet here.
