Effective and efficient data management practices are essential for any organization, but the need for secure, up-to-date, accurate information only increases when you step foot in the healthcare industry.
It’s one thing to lose track of pricing data and charge the wrong amount to the wrong customer in a supply chain, but it’s another issue to misplace important patient information that could lead to a misdiagnosis or wrong treatment. When lives are potentially on the line, maintaining data standards and ensuring proper use and storage of that data is increasingly important.
This is where Epic medical software comes into play for your organization.
Read on to learn about Epic software and how it can help your hospital system or healthcare facility track patient history, maintain electronic medical records, and optimize data management processes to ensure patient and provider satisfaction.
What is Epic Systems?
The Epic Systems Corporation is the leading telemedicine software provider for a wide range of healthcare organizations, including independent practices, offices, clinics, and large hospitals.
Epic’s comprehensive medical software offers modules, from new patient scheduling to medical imaging, billing, and more, to improve accessibility, visibility, and management of electronic medical records across your entire healthcare organization.
The Epic cloud-based software system improves patient engagement and facilitates better remote care operations. Its easy-to-use interface, various modules, and reliable data and record management capabilities enhance patient and physician communication and improve the efficiency of operations within the organization.
Understand Medical Records in Epic
An Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is essentially a digital version of a patient’s records that includes medical history from a singular practice. The information contained in EMRs is typically kept within one office or practice and is not shared between organizations. Even if a patient decides to switch doctors for one reason or the other, their EMR will not follow.
The Epic EMR system offers improved data tracking and management for patient records over time. This way, both patients and providers have access to up-to-date information and medical history, and the quality of their healthcare experience can be improved.
With Epic, healthcare systems and organizations are enabled to offer a more comprehensive view of patient care, including present and historical patient information, demographics, medications, illness history, comparative test results, and overall patient experience.
Epic’s cloud-based record systems offer a variety of core specialties and features that focus on improving patient experience and engagement with their own electronic health record and history. The solution can be easily customized to fit specific patient or provider needs, including adding specialty-dependent modules and capabilities.
Integrating Epic with Other Systems
Because of its cloud-based nature, the Epic software system is easily integrated with other operating systems, third-party systems, and applications, making it easier to manage and consolidate electronic health records from multiple data sources or source systems.
Epic is considered a Software as a Service (SaaS) system with no complicated software installation requirements, making its integration and operation with other systems much simpler than other medical software.
Epic’s integrated system capabilities are open-sourced and follow HL7 compliance, making integration with comparable systems easier. Records managed and stored in Epic and other EHR systems with the same operational standards can be shared with no added system requirements, costs, or headaches.
Breakdown of Epic Modules
Whether you’re a privately-owned practice with a database of 100 patients or a hospital system with many different healthcare facilities and more than 10,000 patients, Epic is guaranteed to have a module that fits your personalized needs.
Let’s take a look at some of the key modules that Epic offers and what they can do for healthcare providers and patients across your organization.
EpicCare Ambulatory & Inpatient:
Used by physicians and other healthcare providers for charting (and offers various specialty modules for specific practices)
Cupid:
Used in Cardiovascular practices and departments
Beacon:
Used for Oncological programs
Stork:
Used in obstetrics and labor and delivery management
Kaleidoscope:
Used by ophthalmology physicians
Phoenix:
Used for solid organ transplant management
OpTime:
Used in the management of operating rooms (ORs) in hospitals
Beaker Clinical & Anatomic:
Used in hospital and clinic laboratories (Clinical) and surgical cytology and pathology labs (Anatomic)
Prelude:
Used for patient registration and tracking
Cadence:
Used for appointment scheduling
Willow:
Used for pharmaceutical department management
Resolute:
Used in financial analysis and billing systems
Radiant:
Used in radiology departments
EpicCare Home Health:
Used for home care patient monitoring
While this is not an exhaustive list of all modules included in Epic medical software, it should give you a better idea of the versatility of the Epic system and help you understand where it could have a place in your organization.
In addition to the various modules listed above, the Epic EHR system also offers modules for anesthesia, nurse triage, and even complete intensive care unit (ICU) management, ensuring patient care is optimized across every area of the organization.
Main Advantages of Using Epic in Your Organization
With its unique data management functionality and wide range of modules, Epic is a “catch-all” system for healthcare organizations of any size, location, or specialty. And, now that you know a little more about the key modules and capabilities of the system, let’s talk about a few of the main advantages of using electronic health records in Epic…
1) Reduction of IT Demand Management:
When managing and maintaining a software system as vast as Epic, clinicians and healthcare providers often rely on IT departments to keep up with new releases, upgrades, innovations, and even bug fixes. With Epic, software updates and improved functionality depend on the company’s release schedule, allowing IT departments to be released from such high demand (thus improving the overall employee experience).
2) Increased Patient Engagement & Satisfaction:
Because Epic is centered around patient satisfaction and employee engagement, the software offers greater visibility into patient history, data insights, and other important information regarding treatment, medication, or scheduling. Patients and providers can access updated medical records, appointment scheduling, and other Epic EHR features, making data management more effective across teams.
3) Improved Federal Law Compliance:
Meaningful use involves ensuring IT departments comply with federal law by using EHR technology properly and maintaining data integrity and security. And, Epic makes compliance with federal government rules and regulations easier with its commitment to meaningful use standards and guidelines.
Partnering with the Best
Getting started with Epic can seem a bit daunting if your team doesn’t have the right resources, personnel, or support to keep up with a complete implementation or integration process. This is where Surety Systems comes in.
Whether you need help replacing your current electronic health record systems with a more functional Epic system or just an extra hand integrating Epic with your other systems, our team of senior-level Epic consultants has the experience and skills to help you.
Even better, we’ve included a sample profile of one of our Epic-certified consultants to give you a better idea of what to expect when partnering with us.
Surety Senior Epic Software Consultant
- 10 years experience as an Epic Credentialed Trainer
- Ambulatory, Cadence, Radiant expert
- MyChart patient portal foundation
- 20 years of Nursing experience
- Credentialed in Ambulatory, Radiant, Cupid, Stork, Willow, and a handful of other Epic modules
Contact us today to start your Epic system journey or learn how Surety Systems can fit your Epic needs!
