Tanner Health System is preparing to bring online a new, secure electronic health record that will provide for better documentation among medical providers, empower patients to take a greater role in their health, and create new career opportunities for healthcare and information technology professionals across the region.

The health system is partnering with Verona, Wis.-based Epic Systems Corporation to implement a new electronic health record throughout the organization’s five hospitals and 30 regional Tanner Medical Group practices. The new record system will be more consistent, more accessible for providers and patients alike, and more user-friendly.

And as the name of the company suggests, the implementation will itself be nothing less than epic.

“This is going to require a 14- to 16-month rollout, a significant investment of capital and a large expansion to Tanner’s information technologies infrastructure and staff,” said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner Health System. “But it’s a move we’re confident will continue our work in advancing patient care. It’s a platform that better serves our medical staff, our clinical teams and our patients than the systems we use at present.”

Currently, the health system’s hospitals and Tanner Medical Group clinics operate on different electronic health record systems. While both systems are secure and have served their purpose well, the trend in healthcare information technologies has been to consolidate systems. The Epic platform promises “one patient, one record,” giving medical providers a single point of contact to document diagnoses, treatments, medical histories and more. The Epic system also provides patients with unparalleled digital access to their records through the popular MyChart application, enabling the health system’s patients to review documentation, test results and securely contact their medical providers with questions or concerns.

The move to the new electronic health record comes at a time of rapid growth across the health system. The organization has recently invested about $100 million in expanding its hospital facilities, including a new surgical services unit at Higgins General Hospital in Bremen and a new emergency department and surgical services unit at Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica. This fall, the health system opened its fifth hospital, Tanner Medical Center/East Alabama, in Wedowee, and is planning for the construction of the massive Tanner Health Pavilion, an outpatient medical complex that will be built across Dixie Street from Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton.

The organization is also growing in terms of the services it offers, with accredited chest pain centers now available in Carrollton and Villa Rica, accredited stroke centers in Carrollton, Villa Rica and Bremen, and an expansion of beds at its Willowbrooke at Tanner inpatient behavioral health facility at Villa Rica.

Moving to a new electronic health record, according to Howard, will help the organization continue its regional and clinical growth.

“More than ever, we need to make sure everyone’s on the same page when it comes to an individual’s health,” said Howard. “We know the value in a multidisciplinary approach to care, serving patients with a team of clinicians who are experts in their respective fields and bringing that team together to collaborate and work together. That’s what the Epic platform allows us to do better than ever — bring everyone together, wherever they are, to best serve the patient, and then empower the patient to understand and take part in their health as well.”

The months-long rollout will involve an upgrade to the health system’s IT infrastructure, as well as the recruitment of additional staff to oversee and manage the new platform. A new training center will also be needed to educate staff on the new platform.

Tanner chose Epic after a months-long review process, bringing together staff from throughout the organization and hosting a series of on-site demonstrations from some of the nation’s leading electronic health record vendors, resulting in feedback from more than 700 physicians, clinicians and other staff. A substantial majority — almost 80 percent — of those involved in the decision-making process elected to move to the Epic platform.

Epic is one of the world’s leading EHR services, keeping the vital health records for more than 190 million people.

“A major advantage for Epic is that it provides patients and providers a single record across the continuum of care,” said Benjamin Camp, MD, senior vice president for medical affairs. “Our clinicians will have access to a more complete picture of an individual’s health, as well as the patient’s history. This will help the clinical team at Tanner work with the patient to make the best, most informed decisions regarding his or her care. From the clinic exam room to the surgical suite to the hospital bedside, everyone will have access to the same information, organized the same way, to build the most complete record of the patient’s health.”

Tanner plans to go live with the new electronic health record system by mid-2019. To learn more about the career opportunities the Epic implementation will create, visit www.TannerCareers.org. More information on Tanner is available online at www.tanner.org.

(photo)

Santez Kendrix, a systems administrator at Tanner Health System, runs an equipment check in the health system’s data center. Tanner is beginning the move to an electronic health record, Epic, which will streamline communication from the clinic exam room, to the operating suite, to the hospital bed side with one electronic chart for each patient.