The Successful Road to Epic is Paved with Multiple Stakeholders

A CIO friend recently told me, “If you’ve seen one Epic implementation, you’ve seen one Epic implementation.” Her point was, of course, that a transition from a legacy EHR to Epic is a long, complex journey — requiring strategic thinking, impeccable planning, and successful engagement of multiple constituencies to achieve pre- and post-implementation objectives. 

Although 70% of recent health network EHR implementations have involved Epic — according to Definitive Healthcare — the supplemental support requirements of each organization vary greatly. To overcome numerous Epic transition support challenges, health IT leaders must seek support partners that can meet their unique support needs — also having completed similar projects at comparable health organizations.  

For the underserved community health, FQHC, and ambulatory care group markets, Med Tech Solutions specializes in offering personalized support through every stage of your Epic implementation, including the following five areas for consideration: 

• Data Archiving and Migration – In a system transition, data archival and migration are crucial for securely storing and accessing historical patient data. However, a healthcare organization’s legacy EHR vendor has no vested interest in helping with data migration, and the responsibility doesn’t fall on the incoming vendor either. Healthcare facilities must seek conversion partners — like MTS — who help bridge this data gap. From solutions such as new archival software, supplemental data mapping or system clean-up support, healthcare organizations can achieve seamless day-one patient admissions and care during Epic go-live.
• Interoperability Transition – Provider organizations must maintain effective integration of their disparate systems throughout a system transition. As a neutral third party with a vendor-agnostic integration engine, MTS’ CareBridge can deliver a cost-effective solution that meets expanding interoperability demands.
• Revenue Cycle A/R Wind Down – Often put on the back-burner during a move to Epic, revenue cycle monitoring and management is not given the priority and resources needed for continuous billing and claims submissions throughout transition. MTS’ RCM360 team have broad experience across nearly all legacy EHR platforms (ambulatory and acute) and can effectively manage A/R wind down while uncovering additional opportunities to reduce days in A/R. This increase in cash flow can be especially crucial during a costly EHR transition process.
• Staff Augmentation – In a time where attrition rates within the provider community are at a challenging level, MTS maintains a strong bench of highly capable, experienced Epic-certified analysts and credentialed trainers to supplement internal teams. By creating an optimal staffing mix, healthcare organizations can reduce labor costs while advancing Epic support efficiency. 
• Go-Live Training and At-the-Elbow (ATE) Support –Studies have shown that a common thread in successful implementations is the breadth and depth of training immediately before and during go-live. Healthcare organizations must devote resources to developing a customized training program to boost new system adoption and user satisfaction. MTS has assisted many provider organizations with expert at-the-elbow support, creating more proficient users from the start.
• Tier 1+ Service Desk – The magnitude of recruiting, hiring, training, and retaining capable staff to support the critical Epic Service Desk function is often daunting on a provider organization’s internal HR and IT teams. MTS offers a fully customizable Epic Service Desk solution for cost-effective support beyond the new system go-live. This reliable support option alleviates strain on internal teams — allowing them to focus on alternative priority projects — while simultaneously elevating end-user support quality.

Are you migrating to Epic or considering an EHR system move in the future? Consider utilizing MTS to elevate your system transition support strategy. Contact our team today for an EHR transition best practice discussion.