All sites now use the same, integrated electronic health record and revenue cycle management systems.
The final Mayo Clinic sites to migrate to an Epic-based electronic health record (EHR) system finally made the jump over the weekend, bringing the Rochester, Minnesota–based nonprofit's systemwide rollout to a close.
Wrapping up the years-long process—which is part of a broader technology upgrade projected to cost $1.5 billion—marks "a historic milestone" that brings about 52,000 employees across 90 hospitals and clinics onto the same system, the organization said.
While the final cost of the Epic installation has not been disclosed, it's clearly a significant investment that Mayo leaders expect to pay dividends.
"We envision even greater collaboration among experts in delivering the patient care, research, and education that are hallmarks of Mayo," said Richard Gray, MD, co-chair of the initiative, in a statement.
Beyond providing access to health records in a single system, the rollout means that patients will be able to check in electronically and receive one consolidated billing statement for all Mayo sites, the organization said.
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The news comes as Epic and its biggest rival, Cerner, compete for market share in a sector poised for consolidation. Providers, meanwhile, are scraping funds together for expensive EHR projects like the one Mayo just completed. For some smaller systems, the financial pressure has proven too much, with EHR installations being blamed as contributing factors in executive resignations and hospital bankruptcies.
Mayo's rollout plan anticipated some headaches and took steps to mitigate them, as MPR News reported last May, when the new system went live in Rochester. The Epic system had already been rolled out to Mayo Clinic Health System facilities in Wisconsin and Minnesota last year. The final sites to be added last weekend were in Florida and Arizona.
Steven Porter is an associate content manager and Strategy editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.
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