Two New York health systems are outsourcing their Epic implementations to allow them to switch to an EHR that is sometimes out of reach for smaller organizations.
Elmira, N.Y.-based Arnot Health and Ithaca, N.Y.-based Cayuga Health both plan to go live with Epic in early 2025 through a collaboration with Xtensys, an administrative services organization that helps community health systems adopt complex technologies like Epic.
Often, independent hospitals and small health systems have to partner with their bigger counterparts to install Epic through the EHR vendor's Community Connect program. A community health system might lack the IT manpower or expertise for such a project; Xtensys has a staff of over 500 tech professionals.
"Xtensys' mission is to level the playing field and bring the technologies and skill sets that smaller systems deserve but not make them beholden to someone else," Xtensys CIO Jonathan Goldberg, a longtime former health system CIO, told Becker's.
Arnot Health doesn't currently have a CIO; the role is in "transition," according to a spokesperson. Cayuga Health also referred questions about the EHR switch to Mr. Goldberg.
The organizations chose Epic to boost their employee and patient experience and get a better grip on regional population health, Mr. Goldberg said. Arnot Health's current EHR vendors are eClinicalWorks and QuadraMed, while Cayuga Health uses Meditech and eClinicalWorks. Epic is the most widely used EHR — and growing.
The Epic implementations will cost "many millions of dollars," Mr. Goldberg said, declining to specify the exact amounts — but the upfront investment will pay off for years to come.
"What price do you put on the patient and the ability to improve their experience as they navigate healthcare?" he said. "As we enhance safety and quality, streamline operations and improve revenue cycle, everybody wins."
While Xtensys is leading the EHR transitions, they remain all-hands-on-deck efforts at the health systems.
"We are asking [the] team to take on more in addition to their day job to help us through these implementations, and they are stepping up and getting it done," Mr. Goldberg said. "We keep reminding them of how fortunate and appreciative we are of them. But I'll say it here once more just in case they are reading this."
The health systems' patients will soon have access to Epic's MyChart patient portal, where they can schedule appointments, view labs and test results, pay bills, and message their healthcare providers, he said.
"Beyond improving the experience for our workforce and patients, I'd say that there is a lot of excitement to really becoming data driven across all facets of the organization as well as being able to start to take advantage of AI," Mr. Goldberg said.