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3 care orgs pursue interoperability with Epic EHR systems

Albany Medical Center, WVU Medicine Thomas Hospitals, and Vanderbilt Home Care have recently announced Epic EHR implementations to support health data interoperability.

Hannah Nelson
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Published: 13 May 2024

Albany Medical Center has launched an Epic EHR system to enhance patient care access and streamline provider workflows.

Albany Medical Center is the first hospital in the Albany Med Health System to deploy the Epic platform. In September, Columbia Memorial Health, Glens Falls Hospital and Saratoga Hospital will implement the platform to drive health data interoperability across the health system.

"An electronic medical record is the neural network of a hospital, and having a single, unified platform that spans across the Albany Med Health System will connect our services like never before and bring the quality of care we deliver to the next level," Dennis P. McKenna, MD, president and CEO of Albany Med Health System, said in a public statement.

With the Epic EHR implementation, patients will have access to an online patient portal to access their health information, schedule appointments, request prescription refills, message their doctor, review test and lab results, pay bills, and more.

"Epic is a robust tool that will offer patients a more seamless care experience and enable our clinical teams to better collaborate, share information, and deliver the most informed care possible," said McKenna. "This project has been years in the making, and it's incredible to see the hard work of so much of our staff come to fruition."

WVU Medicine Thomas Hospitals implements Epic

WVU Medicine Thomas Hospitals is deploying an Epic EHR to support health data exchange across WVU Medicine facilities and improve the patient experience.

"Epic is an industry-leader EMR, and we are excited to transition our current system to one that will provide incredible features for providers and patients," Greg Rosencrance, MD, president and CEO of Thomas Hospitals, said in a press release.

In addition to creating longitudinal patient records for providers in the WVU Medicine system, the implementation will grant patients access to an online portal to view their health information, message their providers, and more.

"This change will bring about many long-term benefits, and I am thankful for the commitment of the Thomas Hospitals family and the entire WVU Medicine Epic Team in making this a success," Rosencrance emphasized. "Our caregivers have spent hours training and preparing for Epic, and we will continue to support them as they adapt to this new system."

Vanderbilt Home Care migrates to Epic for interoperability

Vanderbilt Home Care has implemented an Epic EHR system to support interoperability with Vanderbilt University Medical Center providers, allowing a more complete view of patient health information.

"The primary benefit is transparency," Amy Harrison, RN, MSN, president of Vanderbilt Home Care, said in a public statement. "Providers can see what we're doing; they can see how their patient responded to their care. It's all considered one complete medical record across the hospital, clinic, and now also in the patient's home."

Harrison mentioned that the system's data and reporting capabilities also benefit billing and other administrative workflows.

"We couldn't have really asked for a better platform," she said. "They took our input and built it based on our specific needs."

Vanderbilt Home Care provides a variety of home care services such as nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, medical social work and private duty services.

Hannah Nelson has been covering news related to health information technology and health data interoperability since 2020.

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