Date: 03/01/2016

Nearly three years ago, Johns Hopkins Medicine first signed on to Epic and leaped into the future of health care. The new electronic medical record system was chosen to integrate ambulatory and inpatient records throughout the enterprise, improve the quality of care, and meet the demands of health care reform. Since then, through a phased rollout, Epic has gone live at Howard County General Hospital, Suburban Hospital, Sibley Memorial Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, ambulatory practices and the emergency departments at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and all Johns Hopkins Community Physicians sites.

Now, the institution’s vision of “one patient, one record” is almost a reality with the final phase of the Epic migration scheduled for July 1 at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Kennedy Krieger Institute for inpatient applications. This is an especially meaningful milestone that will complete Johns Hopkins Medicine’s transformation into a single, integrated health care delivery system.

This is an exciting time for all providers throughout Johns Hopkins Medicine who have navigated the challenges and transitions to Epic. Below are the top 10 reasons to celebrate the final Epic rollout for inpatient care.

10. Epic offers sophisticated tools for reporting and decision support.

9. The system has the ability to push new results to the discharge prescriber, which will enhance communication among all health care team members and promotes coordinated patient care across disciplines and departments.

8. Providers will have mobile tools at their fingertips for data viewing and ordering.

7. Discharged patients will have access to MyChart, Epic’s online patient portal, to actively engage in their own health care.

6. Epic gives providers the ability to enter orders and pend them for later.

5.  Prescribers will have opportunities to customize the system and documentation. The system links all documentation tasks, including scheduling and registration, clinical charting, computerized provider order entry, e-prescribing and charge capture.

4. The new system will provide integrated billing and imaging viewing.

3. Epic provides access to pharmacy benefit, medication histories and e-prescribing. It also cuts down on inefficient paperwork with no more paper encounter forms, paper requisitions, paper prescription pads, etc.

2. There will be a seamless flow of history, medications list and problem list from the ambulatory system.

1. Prescribers who go between hospitals will have to learn only a single system.