Our Lady of the Angels Hospital, a 98-bed hospital in Bogalusa, La., fully transitioned from paper-based records to an Epic EHR in less than a year, going live on the system in June. Mercy Technology Services, the IT pillar of St. Louis-based Mercy, led the implementation.
Mercy Technology Services not only provides and manages technology solutions for the Mercy health system, but it is the first provider accredited by Epic to offer management and consulting for Epic solutions to other hospitals. That includes EHR implementation, application management, consulting and EHR hosting services.
When working with Our Lady of the Angels Hospital, the organizations had to condense the implementation into a shorter timeframe due to the hospital's antiquated systems. What normally takes MTS 12 to 18 months to complete took just under a year, reports Mercy.
Rene Ragas, president and CEO of Our Lady of the Angels, credited much of the successful transition to the shared cultures and missions between the hospital and MTS, as well as Mercy's years of experience and evidence-based practices. "There's additional value in having Mercy's evidence-based treatment paths wired into our EHR, along with all their best practices," Mr. Ragas said.
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