Community Hospital Taps Epic EHR to Mitigate Clinician Burden

A small community hospital in Illinois has begun an Epic EHR implementation which is expected to cut down on clinician burden and improve care delivery, according to reporting from Rochelle News Leader.

Epic typically doesn’t work with smaller hospitals, but Rochelle Community Hospital (RCH) was able to acquire the system through Pointcore, a retail division of OSF Healthcare, RCH CEO Gregg Olson told Rochelle News Leader.

The system will replace two EHRs that the hospital installed in 2011 or 2012. Currently, one of RCH’s current systems covers the hospital business while the other operates its clinic. Olson noted that putting reports together with RCH’s current systems is time-consuming and costly.

The new integrated system is set to enhance access to patient data at RCH while also improving data exchange with other hospitals that leverage Epic by eliminating the need for archaic fax machines. Fax-based patient health data exchange has been linked to clinician burden.

“In my opinion and a lot of people's opinion, Epic is the gold standard,” Olson told Rochelle News Leader. “One hit of the keyboard with Epic can send patient information. We're fortunate to have access to a product that's well designed and user-friendly for staff and providers.”

Olson noted that greater access to patient health information should improve care delivery.

“This is going to be an enhancement to our patients,” he said. “It gives everyone more information on what we're dealing with and that's always a better way to be. We know at the end of the day when this is completed, our people will be very happy with it."

Olson said that 91 percent of recently graduated doctors use Epic during residency programs, so the EHR implementation could help RCH attract prospective employees in the medical field who are familiar with the system.

RCH aims to start using the EHR on May 1, 2022, which would be the start of its new fiscal year, Olson said.

Olson noted that the Epic system costs millions for RCH to license.

“It's a huge investment,” Olson said. “I am so blessed that I have such a supportive board. Asking a board to spend millions of dollars is not an easy thing to do. I think we did it the right way and took our time. It took a lot of meetings."

Olson said RCH must stay on the cutting edge of health IT to stay competitive with larger hospitals in the area.

“For us to continue our path and grow and thrive, we have to be competent, provide excellent service, and be compassionate,” he explained. “In order to do that, we have to provide the best products out there.”