The HCI Group have developed an Epic Systems Implementation Guide for a Multi-Hospital Install. This guide delivers key takeaways for an effective install through all phases of the process and locations in your network. Be sure to request your guide here on our site... info.thehcigroup.com/epic-implementation-guide-for-a-multi-hospital-install

1. Epic Implementation Guide for
a Multi-Hospital Install
There is no doubt that installing Epic’s systems within a single hospital can be a
complicated process, but when you are an organization that is planning to roll out
Epic across multiple inpatient sites, their associate clinics, in house physicians groups
and revenue cycle you have likely discovered an entirely new set of roadblocks that
could inhibit your successful, on time installation. The good news is that, with proper
planning, these obstacles can be overcome.
Plan, Plan, and Plan Again
“Give me six hours to cut down a tree and I
will spend the first four sharpening the
axe”. Abraham Lincoln was a brilliant man,
but none of his wisdom is more relevant
today
for
large
Integrated Delivery
Networks installing Epic. Lincoln’s quote
implies that proper preparation and
analysis is as important as the action, and
this rings true for large implementation
projects. There is no room for guess work
when it comes to planning and executing
your project. Cost overruns can be severe for hospitals that learn their mistakes as
they progress along the project lifecycle. For example, poor build, ineffective staff,
limited testing, and improper considerations that ancillary systems will have on the
build process are just a few areas to consider. It is extremely important for leadership
to plan effectively and monitor their project’s development to avoid such mistakes.
With lengthy, multi-year timelines any missed deadlines early in your project will
likely become more impactful as setbacks tend to cause a ripple effect throughout the
duration of the project.
We can see planning’s importance when it comes to building records in Epic. Though
it seems easy enough to begin by adding records into your build environment, it’s
better to begin by first understanding your facility’s structure before developing a
strategy for both a naming and numbering convention. Once you begin naming and
numbering records, it is a very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to reverse course
after the fact. It is important to craft a good plan early and stick with it throughout.
Departments and locations may have differences, but it is the similarities between
them that are needed to provide your team with an easier naming convention and
build. Using a blank field in an Epic record will still respect the setting in the “higher”
record in the facility structure. If all of your outpatient units act a certain way, you
can set that particular piece in the overall system definitions rather than separating it

2. out department by department. Using this process will save your build team time and
effort. It should be noted that this strategy can also be applied to your users and
providers as well.
Communication and Compromise
With so many hospitals and locations going
up on an integrated system, there is an
obvious need for communication between not
only the project teams, end users, and
hospital leadership but between those groups
at your different facilities as well. This might
seem obvious, but it's important to remember
the level of autonomy many of these
departments and centers once had that may
be lessened with your new EMR. This
adjustment can easily be overlooked. Decisions that could once be made by one group
of localized leadership that are usually very familiar with one another will now
typically need to include everyone within that specialty (or, in the EMR world, by
application) from all locations.
Click the button below to download the guide in full >>
2