In 2020, Ballad Health successfully implemented Epic Phase 1 by installing Epic as Ballad Health’s electronic medical record system (EMR). This implementation connects the patients’ hospital and clinics medical records on one platform. Ballad Health’s IT personnel completed the Epic Phase 1 install in two major launches, and both went extremely well, even during a pandemic.
Ballad Health has now embarked on Phase 2 of our Epic implementation journey.
What is Epic Phase 2?
The Epic Phase 2 implementation involves transitioning some additional departments to the Epic EMR, while updating existing Epic capabilities in other departments. The below list Includes the departments that the Epic Phase 2 project will impact:
Four long-term care facilities- All six of our retail pharmacies
- Home Health and Hospice
- Inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services
The go-live date for these services to implement Epic is Aug. 1, 2022. As we approach the Aug. 1 go-live date, Ballad Health’s IT department will conduct extensive testing. Team members and providers impacted by the Aug. 1 Epic implementation will attend training as applicable to their job role.
Why are we doing this?
Inclusion of these departments in Ballad Health’s Epic conversion will expand the organization’s access to a single integrated EMR system that includes the patient’s healthcare treatments between hospitals and other facilities. Adding Epic functionality to these departments will create a unified patient record system for the entire enterprise and promotes our goal to have one medical record across the continuum of care for a patient’s lifetime.
The Epic Phase 2 implementation continues to move our health system in taking full advantage of what Epic has to offer. This initiative helps Ballad Health rely less on additional fragmented programs and systems, while allowing the organization to maximize our goal of “Epic First” and to capitalize on the Epic investment the organization has made to date.
Key dates for those involved
If you are involved in any of these groups and affected by the upcoming Aug. 1 changes, below is a list of some important dates. If you are a manager and you have not done so already, you’ll need to complete the “Introduction to HealthStream for Managers” session in HealthStream before registering teams for Epic Phase 2 training.
Registration for training
The registration deadline of May 6 helps Ballad Health’s education team to properly plan for enough sessions to accommodate all learners. If for some reason a team member cannot attend the Epic training on the date scheduled, managers can make changes to the registrations after the deadline, if needed. As new team members are hired and as team members resign, managers should add and remove team members from the Epic Phase 2 classes in HealthStream so resources will be properly assigned.
If you have training questions, visit the Epic site on the Ballad Health intranet at http://bhnet/info/epic/Pages/Epic-Phase-II.aspx, or email Epictraining@balladhealth.org. (NOTE: You must be on a Ballad Health network device to access the intranet.)
