Rather than making a multimillion-dollar investment to deploy a new EHR, Woman's Hospital is seeking potential health system partners that instead would let the Baton Rouge, La.-based hospital connect to their Epic system, according to the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report.
Woman's Hospital issued an information request in June seeking proposals for an affiliation from national and local providers. Four hospital systems in Louisiana have submitted responses, Woman's Hospital CEO Barbara Griffith, MD, told the publication July 13.
Dr. Griffith said Woman's Hospital is looking at potential affiliation partners to understand who would want to share their Epic EHR system and which organization would be the best cultural fit for a partnership. Woman's Hospital, which has 165 beds, looked into buying access to Epic but ultimately chose not to because the project would have been too expensive, costing $200 million over the next seven years, according to the report.
"The technology for healthcare organizations is incredibly expensive, and, as a healthcare organization, it is reasonable to consider working with others in order to share their technology and manage the cost," Dr. Griffith said. "So we are continuing to pursue our strategic plan but are taking into consideration that a large part of the physicians and patients who will deliver here are served by a larger system’s technology tools."
Woman's Hospital is not looking for a buyer, just a partner to help it invest in new technologies. The hospital said it hopes to make a decision for the affiliation during the third quarter of this year, according to the report.