EpicTogether: Remembering Our Why
We are exactly one year into our Epic Implementation Project. This means we are less than a year away from Go-live. It’s a point in the process where it’s easy to forget our why. Today we want to take a moment and remember what EpicTogether is all about.
One Team, One Record, One Focus: Our Patients
First and foremost, our patients deserve the best experience that we can deliver. Our systems are simply outdated. They do not talk to each other and, despite our best efforts, provide a frustrating experience for our patients and for you. Today’s consumers demand high tech help. They want to be able to schedule appointments and pay their bills online and to see their lab results from an electronic patient chart and compare them to previous results. The new patient chart in Epic allows them to do all of this and more. This convenience is an added benefit that soon becomes a key part to managing their overall health.
Gone will be the days of having to log into multiple systems. The aging infrastructure of Crown requires add-ons that cost you time and take your attention away from the patient. Epic gives back that time. It allows you to see the inpatient record as well as the outpatient record, all within the secure clicks of one system. Even a minute more can make the difference in a patient’s day.
“We knew staying the course was not an option,” said Jack Cioffi, MD, president of ColumbiaDoctors. “The pain points we feel now with CROWN and SCM will fade with Epic. That’s not to say we won’t experience new ones these next nine months, but we will be able to better address and fix them. We will have a more efficient, comprehensive system to support us in delivering the best care possible.”
As the EpicTogether executive sponsors at ColumbiaDoctors, Donna Lynne, DrPH, chief executive officer of ColumbiaDoctors and senior vice president and chief operating officer for Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Cioffi are fully committed to you and our patients. They are ensuring that every decision with Epic is thoughtful and intentional. If something doesn’t seem right, speak up, double check—just as you would with a patient in front of you. We want every step you take to learn Epic to be one where you proceed with confidence. That’s why our training is comprehensive and why we are standing up our own staff of super users and trainers to support you through this transition.
Videos Highlight Changes Coming Your Way
A note to providers: be sure to check out #Connect2Change – a video that will be delivered to your inbox on Tuesdays featuring just one of the changes that Epic brings. This week, Rachel Lewis, MD, associate chief medical information officer of ColumbiaDoctors, provides a CORe update. CORe is our clinical operational readiness team that’s working to integrate our clinical processes. Thanks for taking two minutes and checking it out.