What Has Epic Been Up To?
(Originally posted on LinkedIn)
In the ever-growing world of Healthcare IT, there is always one thing for certain; change. But thanks to Epic, there have been a number of advancements that are sure to positively impact patient care and those clinicians that serve them. Over these last couple of months, Epic has shown incredible technological advancements, has received coveted accolades, and have put their best foot forward with philanthropic efforts within their community. Here are just a few Epic highlights from these last couple of months!
Epic created Pulse Central, a real-time analytics platform that was established within the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, which aggregates de-identified data from 1,200 hospitals across the country to help public health agencies identify at-risk communities and opportunities for an intervention!
As safety is a top concern across the country, numerous health systems have delayed office visits or transitioned to telehealth due to COVID-19. It's been hard for these healthcare systems to decide on when to resume in-person visits and elective surgeries. Thanks to the data within Epic about each patient’s COVID-19 risk and care needs, clinics are now able to make educated decisions about when to open up their clinics as safely as possible! Speaking of telehealth, Dr. Jackie Gerhart, a family medicine physician on Epic’s informatics team, shared some really great tips for making charting easier on phones, tablets, and laptops thanks to Epic technology!
Doctors have uncovered COVID-19 connections to blood clots and dementia using Epic! Dr. Bolooki, and his colleagues at Lee Health, used Epic’s SlicerDicer tool to quickly verify early reports that COVID-19 can cause fatal blood clots, despite its reputation as a respiratory disease. At Mount Sinai Health System clinicians were among the first in the world to discover a connection between dementia and COVID-19 severity using SlicerDicer. SlicerDicer is giving doctors the power to investigate questions and visualize trends instantly so they can zero in on important findings that change the course of treatment.
There were 27 Epic hospitals that were named Best Hospitals and Best Children's Hospital by U.S. News and World Report! *U.S. News and World Report rank the best hospitals, centers for specialties, and medical schools based on data from 5,000 hospitals and surveys of more than 140,000 physicians.
Epic’s culinary team went from serving 5,000+ employees to serving its community! Epic has provided over 94,000 meals to families and individuals dealing with food insecurity according to Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin! "To be able to use our expertise in culinary during a difficult time for the community is really meaningful," said Carolyn George, who has been coordinating the programs for Epic Systems' culinary staff. "It's really something we want to be doing."
Epic teamed up with UW Health and UnityPoint Health to provide safe summer childcare options for parents who work in the healthcare field. Epic is donating the use of its former headquarters on Tokay Blvd., and their partners are providing the activities! They're calling it Camp Tokay, how cool is that?
Epic has been helping its home state of Wisconsin’s response to COVID-19 since the earliest days of the pandemic. When the governor called, they had a team at the State Emergency Operations Center the very next day! Since then, they've partnered with a. number of state professionals to expand collection and testing capacities, identify sources of PPE, make plans for more hospital beds and isolation rooms, and provide childcare for healthcare workers.
Epic is still leading the way when it comes to creation, adaptation, and care. Kudos to all Epic professionals who have worked tirelessly these last few months to ensure their clinicians have easy access to a top-notch healthcare IT platform!