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Texas Children’s selects Epic
as health care information system vendor
By Robert W. Warren, M.D.
After nearly two years of planning and input from hundreds of physicians and staff members at all levels, Texas Children's Hospital has selected Epic Systems Corp. as the vendor of choice for our health care information system (HCIS).
After a thorough evaluation, the HCIS steering committee unanimously chose Epic at a Dec. 6 meeting. Unanimous approvals from the Information Management Executive Committee (IMEC) and the Board of Trustees followed on Dec. 8 and Jan. 5, respectively. Contract negotiations are now under way.
Epic will become the Texas Children’s inpatient and outpatient electronic record, replacing our patient registration, scheduling and billing systems, and clinical systems including Oacis and Logician. Meanwhile, Texas Children’s Pediatric Associates (TCPA) is in the process of completing its technology strategy. As a part of this process, TCPA
has asked Epic to do a second demonstration in early March, with a final TCPA HCIS decision by the end of that month.
Preparing for implementation
Initial planning for the Hospital’s Epic implementation is already under way, and implementation itself will soon become intense and long term, including transformation of many clinical processes. For example, there will be much more accessible information about “best practice” in ordering medication, as well as patient-specific drug interaction and allergy checking for inpatients.
The inevitable and great question is when does this happen? We hope to have some elements of Epic up in 2007 for clinical use (perhaps Epic-based online results viewing, for example, like EpicWeb at BenTaub
is now), but the sequencing and “design” of implementation is still to be
determined.
Indeed, the success of this coming effort depends on our collaborative health
care teamwork to optimize our clinical processes, utilizing the tremendous tools
that Epic will bring. I am confident the medical staff will rise to that
challenge, and I look forward to your help in the coming months and years. If
you have a particular interest in this effort, please call or
e-mail me.
Robert W. Warren, M.D., is medical director, Information Services; chair of the Medical Staff Medical Record Committee; medical director, Rheumatology; and assistant medical director, Ambulatory Services at Texas Children’s. He also is associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, at Baylor College of Medicine.
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