Today is an exciting day! We just went live with Phase 2 of Epic this morning, which covers three long-term care facilities, all six of our retail pharmacies, Home Health and Hospice, and Inpatient and Outpatient Rehabilitation Services. As of today, all of these facilities are part of the greater Ballad Health Epic network.
After an excellent Phase 1 implementation in 2020 that united all our hospitals and clinics on Epic, we are thrilled to bring even more facilities online.
“We couldn’t have achieved this without a lot of work and dedication from all of you. I’m thankful for all the team members who got us to this day, and I’m excited to keep moving forward with Epic,” said Pam Austin, senior vice president and chief information officer, for Ballad Health.
What are the benefits of Epic?
Epic is a more intuitive, more connected system that streamlines care to patients and improves accessibility and safety. With Epic:
- Facilities have easier and more complete access to patient records.
- Simple tasks and processes are automated to save team members’ time.
- One record follows patients wherever they go, making care and charting easier and more consistent.
- The online patient portal, MyChart, helps patients easily access their medical records and manage their health.
- Screens, workflows, and apps can be personalized.
- Customized modules are dedicated to specialty care.
This transition means that many team members will have improved access to their patient records and exciting new functions to help them provide care.
At-the-elbow support will be available for the first two weeks of go-live, through Aug 12, to help team members make the transition. There will be at least one Epic trainer at every facility during this period, with more at some of the larger locations. If you are working in Home Health, an expert will be on-hand at your touchstone location, and you will have call-in support available through Aug 12. In addition, you can still practice charting on the Epic Playground.
Thank you to all the teams who have put in so many hours getting us to this point and who continue to work tirelessly to ensure that these next few weeks go as smoothly as possible.
Thank you to all our team members – especially those working in the Home Health, Hospice, Long-Term Care, Rehab, and Retail Pharmacy spaces – for your patience and cooperation as we bring our whole health system closer together with this Phase 2 implementation.
Recap of Day 1 of Epic Phase 2
There was no disruption to patient care caused by the go-live on Monday. Below are some comments on how the day went from team members and leaders involved in the project:
- “Epic walked us through in a very coordinated manner that set us up for success. Plus, our Ballad Health analysts are rock stars! My team loves them.”
- “Today has gone very smoothly for us! Very few issues.”
- “I am very excited about the possibilities that this system opens up for us to help our patients.”
- “The transition has gone well. My med pass went smoothly, with no issues.”
- “This is a huge success and a big win for Ballad Health. If all of our projects could go like this, it would be awesome. Congratulations to everybody.”
We’d love to see your teams in action and show them off in our daily updates through Ballad Health News and Ballad Teams. For our team members actively involved in the go-live, please email your photos to doug.janz@balladhealth.org or text them to 423-794-9669.
