UMass Memorial's medical records upgrade won't be cheap

UMass Memorial Health Care is taking the expensive leap dozens of health care systems are taking throughout Massachusetts: it is switching its electronic records system to Epic. UMass Memorial CEO Dr. Eric Dickson announced the move away from current electronic health record provider Soarian — which has been purchased by Cerner — in a blog post to employees on Tuesday, saying that the Epic contract was "one of the most important contracts I have signed since becoming CEO". UMass declined to disclose the amount the investment will be, but the four-hospital health system must be spending a significant sum seeing the investment other health systems have made in the software.