The University of California San Diego Health and UC Irvine Health have rolled-out a single EHR platform from Epic, in a collaboration designed to decrease patient care costs and improve operational efficiencies, the providers announced today.
Both health groups are now sharing a single cloud-based repository of patient medical records from Epic. Touted as the first of its kind, the collaboration within UC Health is the first time Epic has been extended from one U.S. academic medical center to another.
UC San Diego Health first implemented its Epic platform in August 2005, while UC Irvine implemented the same platform beginning this month. UC San Diego also shares its Epic platform with UC Riverside Health clinics and community partners.
The shared platform integrates the medical records from both sites, allowing the organizations to care for patients in Imperial, San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties.
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The collaboration is part of a larger movement to “systemness,” which combines assets and services of organizations to improve patient care.
The providers estimate the cost avoidance for implementation will be about 30 percent. Implementation of the shared platform took about 17 months, which is shorter than the average 24-month implementation of similar roll-outs at academic health systems.
Further, the shared platform transitioned the Epic EHR into a cloud-hosted environment, which will help the providers meet industry standards for safeguarding patient health information.
The collaboration “aligns with the broader strategic goals of UC Health to share services and generate efficiencies across campuses through shared implementation and maintenance of technology platforms,” Christopher Longhurst, MD, chief information officer, UC San Diego Health said in a statement.
“Through this process, we’ve aligned our clinical pathways and practices to leverage the best of both organizations,” he added.
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Email the writer: jessica.davis@himssmedia.com