Healthcare information technology leaders are under relentless pressure to innovate, stay up-to-date, and modernize their organization’s IT operations. In recent years, those responsibilities have increasingly included implementing and maintaining electronic health records (EHR) systems like Epic. At UGM 2024, HIT leaders gathered at Medix Technology’s roundtable — “Epic Tales: Stories of Wins and Wisdom” — to share Epic challenges and insights. What made the list? Artificial intelligence, cost management, staffing, adopting new Epic features, end user satisfaction, nurse and physician retention, and the change management necessary for long-term success.
Artificial Intelligence Creates Actual Uncertainty
Similar to just about every industry’s C-suite in 2024, HIT executives are challenged with seamlessly marrying artificial intelligence with existing operations. In healthcare, AI is commonly integrated into Epic to perform natural language processing, predictive analytics, image analysis, administrative tasks, and to support clinical decisions. The chief information officers, chief medical information officers, and other tech leaders at the roundtable covered a diverse range of issues, including:
- Funding: AI is not a one-time investment. It is an emerging technology that requires constant resource demands associated with maintaining, optimizing, and improving AI models to ensure their continued effectiveness. The associated costs can be substantial — and this comes at a time when many of the leaders are tasked with reducing costs.
- Skills Gaps: “Do I have to retool my team?” Staffing is understandably a big concern with HIT leaders pondering the possibilities of AI and Epic. Successfully integrating AI with Epic requires skilled talent: data scientists, systems and security specialists, AI engineers, clinical informatics analysts, the list goes on.
- Automating: AI is perhaps at its best when it consolidates information and streamlines processes. By automating tasks such as note-taking and billing, AI can improve documentation and efficiency. But this comes with risks. HIT leaders are ultimately accountable for their organization’s use of AI. This raises concerns about ensuring safety, compliance, and ethical use of the technology. To address these issues, it is essential to clearly define boundaries and establish guidelines for use of AI.
Cost Management and Budgeting Pressures
The HIT leaders we spoke with echoed a similar challenge associated with their Epic EHR system: reducing costs and adjusting budgets. Epic’s constant updates and software changes ultimately improve functionality and enhance patient care but can lead to increased costs. Updates can require additional resources for training, testing, and implementation, straining budgets, and making it difficult to remain cost efficient.
“Is there ever really a steady state?” we heard. New Epic launches and capabilities are introduced regularly, forcing organizations to adapt and adopt these changes. While new features present an opportunity to capitalize on, the ongoing cost of critical maintenance and support of existing systems forces leaders to ruthlessly prioritize.
Workforce Planning to Support Tech Initiatives
HIT leaders say the updates and changes to Epic EHR systems have created a significant staffing challenge for them. In the past, organizations could maintain a staff of similar size for long periods, but the need for a more dynamic and adaptable approach to Epic management has changed that.
Many organizations are struggling to find employees with the skills to navigate the complex, ever-changing Epic landscape. Leveraging a contingent workforce to execute on key projects has been critical to keep commitments while also managing costs with flexible contracts. As a result, prioritizing knowledge transfer from augmented staff enables them to train and develop their existing teams.
Adopting New Features and Change Management
“The good thing about Epic is it can do anything; the bad thing is that Epic can do anything.” As this HIT leader suggests, when Epic decides to make a change to its EHR system, organizations are forced to adapt, but that’s easier said than done. While Epic offers endless capability, there is the common challenge of over-customization. What leaders all agreed was fundamental to long-term adoption and satisfaction was ensuring new features and automations were rooted in solid processes to drive ease of use and effectiveness.
One key insight for effective change management was involving end users in the governance process: Ask them about what functions they like, which ones they don’t like, and which ones should not be incorporated. Throughout implementation, provide clear communication about the benefits of new features and conduct thorough testing to identify and address potential issues.
By prioritizing user experience, fostering a culture of innovation, and implementing effective change management strategies, healthcare organizations can maximize the benefits of new Epic features and improve the quality of patient care.
As a staffing partner to the healthcare industry for more than 20 years, Medix Technology is focused on understanding the real-life challenges and insights of HIT leaders. To read more of our HIT staffing insights, visit our Resource Center or you can browse our comprehensive portfolio of healthcare technology solutions.
