FLORENCE, South Carolina — The McLeod Health Board of Trustees has approved a transition to the Epic EHR (electronic health record) system. This transformational move underscores advancements that reflect the McLeod mission of improving health in our communities from the midlands to the coast.
“With the patient at its heart, Epic is built around a single, comprehensive health record,” stated McLeod Health CEO and President Donna Isgett. “Everything works together in a doctor’s office, hospital, patient’s home or long-term care facility. Hospitals using Epic have seen an 80% reduction in patient check-in time and an 87% reduction in post-operative complications. It helps you get well and stay well. Epic is a key component, but not the only part of our commitment to expand and exceed patient expectations in delivering their health care.”
The transition to Epic will begin in September 2021 and should take 15 months to complete.
“At McLeod Health, we believe we must be better next week than we are this week and better next year than we are this year,” says Isgett. “Epic represents a transformational moment in the long history of McLeod Health. It is all about improving the patient’s experience as well as easing access to medical information, both internally to our staff and physicians, and externally to our patients and their families.”
Rated No. 1 by healthcare customers in 2021, Epic can exchange high quality images, alert about duplicate orders, search for data across the McLeod organization, enable patients to schedule appointments across the health system, place orders and share test results from multiple locations, according to McLeod Chief Information Officer Matt Reich. “One unified platform covers the entire patient’s experience.”
“Epic will provide a single, complete record of care that includes encounters in our physicians’ offices, outpatient services, as well as inpatient care delivery,” says McLeod Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dale Lusk. “It reaches the patient beyond the physician’s office or hospital walls with self-care tips, a health coach who tells you what you need to do to stay healthy and helps manage chronic diseases.”
The Epic EHR will enable more natural communication among departments on all McLeod campuses and the more than 90 offices of McLeod Physician Associates, making it easier for physicians to order tests and procedures and for patients to access medical information through the McLeod Health website (McLeodHealth.org).