Gov. Brian Kemp's new state budget has proposed $105 million for the Augusta University Medical College of Georgia to purchase an upgraded Epic EHR system, The Augusta Chronicle reported Jan. 19.
The news comes as AU Health signed a letter of intent to partner with Atlanta-based Wellstar Health System in a move that would see Wellstar take over some of AU's assets. The total cost of the installation will be $115 million, with Augusta University, AU Health and Medical College of Georgia contributing the additional $10 million.
"It just so happens that Wellstar has and uses the Epic system, and they've got a lot of experience at implementing that system at other hospitals," Augusta University President Brooks Keel told the Chronicle. "But again, we need to change our medical record system. Epic is one of the more popular and one of the more state-of-the-art systems out there, and so it would make sense for us to move that direction, whether Wellstar was in the picture or not."