Epic Go-Live Implementation, Service Desk, and New Version Upgrade Support

Northwestern Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

About the Client

Northwestern Medicine is a Chicago-based health system comprised of acute care, community, rehabilitation, and critical access hospitals, anchored by Northwestern Memorial Hospital and its partnership with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The organization supports more than 40,000 employees and over 5,900 practicing physicians across 40+ medical specialties and subspecialties.

Support Details

As Northwestern Medicine advanced its strategic transition to a unified Epic environment, the organization originated a partnership with Stoltenberg Consulting, now a Med Tech Solutions (MTS) company, to support a seamless rollout. Through the FlexSourcing healthcare IT support program, the team provided fully remote 3X Best in KLAS Tier 1+ Service Desk and Epic Go-Live Command Center support.

MTS’ virtual Go-Live Call Command Center mitigated end-user problems quickly and effectively with 24/7 support during the go-live Epic conversion, enabling Northwestern’s internal IT staff to focus on application support. The clinically consultative support analysts provided one-on-one end-user shadowing and real-time at-the-elbow (ATE) support with a comprehensive understanding of hospital workflow and processes. Analysts approached each end-user call as a meaningful interaction. They carefully listened to each caller with empathetic communication for thorough issue resolution, end-user education, and documentation.

MTS led the Epic Go-Live Call Command Center with on-site management as a single point of contact for project oversight, quality consistency and issue escalation. Daily statistical reports included calls per hour, total calls, call abandonment rate, first-call resolution, and average wait time with call recording. Staffing levels were easily adjusted up or down based on the health system’s immediate needs and call volumes with support from Epic-trained support techs, certified trainers, and certified analysts. Throughout the Epic go-live transition, MTS served as a flexible partner, blending seamlessly into Northwestern’s unified EHR goals for cross-organizational coordination through a cohesive information technology system.

Project Stats:

• Initial project spanned the health system’s three regions with six hospitals and affiliated medical groups
• Epic Go-Live Call Command Center averaged 1,800+ calls a day
• $425,000+ in IT support cost savings within the first 10 months alone
• Support for over 5,900 primary affiliated physicians and 40,000 overall end users

Epic Service Desk

After the implementation, MTS provided 24/7 Epic Tier 1+ Service Desk support across all Epic modules for the full health system from U.S.-based, cross-trained agents. Aligned with ITIL best practices, the support model emphasized consistent intake, triage, escalation, knowledge capture, and resolution workflows to keep issues moving efficiently, while helping Northwestern maintain visibility into service quality.

Client stakeholders had access to service desk performance dashboard insights, including call volume trends, response metrics, resolution activity, and escalation patterns to support ongoing governance, staffing decisions, and continuous improvement. To keep providers focused on patient care, the support included a physician-only concierge line for prioritized provider assistance, along with one-on-one provider sessions to guide users through Epic workflows, resolve customization requests, answer questions in real time, and reinforce efficient system utilization.

 New Version Upgrade Support

As the competitive health system continued to expand its patient population and make M&A moves, MTS easily adjusted to new user base needs. In spring 2019, Northwestern Medicine successfully deployed its cumbersome Epic new version double upgrade, as an extension of its unified EHR initiative. Then just a few weeks later, as it continued to expand with newly acquired facilities, the health system completed its northwest region’s Epic new version ambulatory go-live.

During these events, MTS proactively led the Epic Go-Live Call Command Center for both system transition and upgrade support. More recently, the team supported two Go-Live Call Command Centers for Epic Beaker Lab and Epic Beaker go-lives in 2021, followed by two additional Go-Live Command Centers in 2022 for a Candence/Lumens go-live and a new hospital acquisition go-live. As the health system strategically grew, MTS stood ready and flexible to adjust to staffing and skill mix demands to maximize EHR system utilization. This support agility enabled Northwestern to focus its sights on sustained competitiveness in the value-based care landscape.

 

To learn more about Epic Go-Live Call Command, Service Desk, and New Version Upgrade support services, contact the MTS Epic team.