Epic E.H.R Systems
Epic E.H.R Systems
What is it? Epic E.H.R systems are electronic health records systems that are software After the HITECH act was passed, Epic was one of the major companies that took bold steps to design, build and customized electronic healthcare management systems for hospitals. Their built-in comprehensive electronic health records systems come in different forms and customizations. The most popularly bought system is the comprehensive hospital system that has several features and functionalities for all services in a large healthcare facility. HIT services provided: Comprehensive health record repository, easy accessibility, healthcare personalization and also healthcare workflow optimization. Current Status: Epic care everywhere, which is Epic’s Health Information exchange system is number one in America (source: 2013 KLAS: software and services report). Before Epic really cared to large organizations and their E.H.R needs but it has recently started to expand its client base to also cater to smaller providers and facilities. By focusing on medical groups and small healthcare providers, Epic will be able to help them afford standard EHR implementation and maintenance costs associated with Epic’s systems. Analysis of design: In terms of software design and coding, Epic follows and fully endorses the E.H.R Association’s developer Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct is a mutually accepted way of design for E.H.R companies that seeks to encourage best practices and transparency in the healthcare software that they design. These values include patient safety, accuracy in billing, security and other critical components of HIT software systems. Epic E.H.R design has never failed to design for its users and clients. With a fairly large client base, they keep redesigning and adding functionalities to their system as they seem needed by their users. In late 2014, Epic’s VP Stirling Martin told VentureBeat this “While our ‘cloud’ actually lives in a state-of-the-art underground data center, it provides the same benefits — allowing a flexible future for our customers who may seek a cost-effective alternative to internal investments in infrastructure and technology.” This means that Epic will be designing innovative systems that still provide basic critical functionalities that it has. In the design of Epic, there is constant testing and customization of system to fit the needs of a health facility.
This means that Epic designs it systems in such a way that customization is unit and not generalized. In fact, no two Epic systems implemented are the same. Even for different facilities in the same health system. Epic often prides itself with the fact that its design makes it possible to quickly install and configure their E.H.R solutions. Epic also has several functionalities like myChart that helps patients do more online with their healthcare and healthcare data. In their design, their business goal is clearly forefront. With their client base quickly rising, it is evident that Epic has done some groundwork to blend their business and user goals to form an enterprise model that benefits them as well as their clients. There is also a strong architecture design that provides a framework for health data interoperability. This makes users have the luxury of having the information they need whenever they go provided it’s a healthcare facility that uses Epic. With Epic design, interoperability happens and system updates regardless of information source. Conclusions: Epic is a successful HIT software system partly because it sells software, but more importantly it has done well by creating a design methodology that provides a single configuration of a single product. Users find comfort in the fact that Epic has all legal and policy issues regarding HIT standardizations covered. They will not be dealing with a system that has not passes the government’s testing. E.H.R incentives will be easily disbursed with systems such as Epic because it has establish itself in design, to sustainable over time and able to achieve Meaningful Use. Trivial enough, Epic as an HIT system has been successful because it has been the popular and safe decision over time. When a system is stable and has robust design processes, users experience that as well.
