Hershey, Pa.-based Penn State Health has entered into negotiations with Epic to switch to the EHR vendor.
The health system has been a longtime customer of Oracle Health, formerly known as Cerner, but Penn State Health's board recently approved the exploration of a transition to Epic.
"We are in negotiations to enter into a contract with Epic," a health system spokesperson told Becker's. "We will make an announcement … once we have completed this process and made a definitive decision."
Epic is overwhelmingly the EHR of choice for academic medical centers. Penn State Health was among the holdouts that had stuck with Oracle Health. But the health system's then-CIO, Cletis Earle, told Becker's for an October story that the customization of Oracle Health's platform had turned into a liability, while Epic's standardized, integrated approach was attractive to health systems.
"We realized it was very hard to remain standard, particularly from iteration after iteration, upgrade after upgrade," he said. "When you customize something to such an extent, it's very difficult to maintain."
Epic grew its market share lead among U.S. academic medical centers in 2023, gaining 15 of them, according to KLAS Research. No other EHR vendor picked up any (the losses included seven for Oracle Health, six for Altera Digital Health and two for Meditech). Nearly two-thirds of academic medical centers are on Epic.
"This is a significant, systemwide initiative that could transform how we care for and interact with our patients across our continuum of care," Penn State Health interim CIO Bill Reed said in an internal newsletter shared with Becker's. The newsletter said employees would be receiving more information in September and that the health system will remain with Oracle Health for "several years" regardless.