Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health will transition from its Cerner EHR to an Epic system as part of its ongoing effort to integrate with Navicent Health in Macon, Ga., according to a Feb. 28 news release.
Five things to know:
1. Atrium Health, which comprises more than 40 hospitals and 900 care facilities, is one of a few large health systems to recently switch from Cerner to Epic. On Feb. 11, Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth confirmed its upcoming multimillion-dollar Epic EHR implementation, moving from a Cerner system.
2. Atrium Health and Navicent Health entered a formal partnership Jan. 1, 2019, to allow Atrium to expand into Georgia, with Navicent serving as a regional hub for Atrium.
3. Atrium facilities in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia currently use various clinical systems for electronic health records. Atrium's locations in North Carolina and South Carolina already use Epic's revenue cycle platform.
4. The health system will begin rolling out the Epic EHR at its Navicent Health locations in Georgia in 2021 and will continue with its other facilities through 2023.
5. By implementing Epic, Atrium aims to decrease clinicians' responsibilities of administrative tasks, according to Scott Rissmiller, MD, executive vice president and chief physician executive at the health system.
"The advent of [EHRs] has vastly changed the practice of medicine — much of it for the better," Dr. Rissmiller said in a news release. "But, it has also added data-entry tasks and taken away from physicians' overall satisfaction with their chosen profession. This change will help make the daily practice of medicine more about patient care, and less about hundreds of clicks in a medical record."