Epic

“This is quite a significant deal. This is multiple lives saved.” That’s what The Christ Hospital Health Network's chief medical officer Marcus Romanello said about the organization’s new initiative to use AI to help increase early detection of lung cancer. The Christ Hospital is using AI in Epic to highlight critical details from lung CT reports, making it easier for physicians to track and act on the key information that appears in free-text reports. Since mid-August, they identified over 4,200 mentions of lung nodules in those reports—leading to the necessary follow-up and, eventually, the detection of nearly 100 cases of cancer. Congrats, folks! Read more: https://lnkd.in/grRJAxAp

There’s no place like home—especially after a hospital admission. Studies show that patients who recover at home have lower readmission rates and report higher satisfaction with their care. At Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), a remote symptom monitoring program for patients with heart failure and COPD helps patients recover from the comfort of home while under the care of the HHS nursing team. It’s the first program of its kind in Canada. After a hospital stay, eligible patients head home with an HHS iPad, which allows them to manage their care in MyChart, track health readings and recovery to-dos, respond to symptom-monitoring questionnaires, and connect with care teams through messaging and video visits. They also receive a blood pressure cuff, weight scale, pulse oximeter, and thermometer—all of which send data directly to the patient’s chart so that care teams can monitor their recovery. Congratulations, folks! Read more: https://lnkd.in/gX-aDtDb #HealthIT #Healthcare

Gen Zs aren’t the only people who prefer texting over calling 😊 Rush University Medical Center uses Hello World, our enterprise communication platform, to allow patients to reschedule appointments, accept appointment offers for earlier times, and pay bills through two-way text. The results? A better patient experience, higher schedule utilization, and higher revenue. Since 2023, Rush has seen over 15,000 appointments rescheduled via text message and a 28% increase in patients accepting earlier appointments, leading to increased revenue of around $12,500 per month. They’ve collected more than $600,000 in payments via text so far. Here’s to making healthcare easier! #Healthcare #HealthIT

The LA wildfires caused ineffable devastation. But without the work of many brave people, the situation could have been even worse. One disruption that’s easy to overlook: a potential loss of healthcare services for people battling life-threatening illness, like cancer. Our friends at Cedars-Sinai met the challenge. With hospitals and clinics offering oncology services across a geographical area that serves 11 million people, they used Epic to manage the flow of both patients and staff when threats from fire in a given area increased. Cedars-Sinai reported that while they had to postpone elective surgeries across the system, there were no breaks in cancer care, and the system’s clinical trials and research pharmacy also remained operational throughout the fires. Thank you for your tireless commitment to patient care. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gD2wjQ8V #healthcare #healthIT #LA

Colorectal cancer is the second most deadly cancer causing more than 53,000 deaths in the US each year. Regular screening and early detection is essential. To improve screening rates in their community, Virtua Health teamed up with Exact Sciences to explore alternatives to colonoscopies that might be less invasive and more convenient for patients. Enter: Virtua’s Cologuard campaign. Virtua used Epic to identify patients who were a good fit for a Cologuard test. Using Cheers, Epic’s CRM suite, they then sent MyChart messages offering Cologuard kits to patients who hadn’t yet received a colon cancer screening. Patients who didn’t respond received kits proactively. Of the first 3,500 patients contacted, 2,000 sent in completed Cologuard kits, and nearly 300 people received a positive result and further treatment. Since starting this campaign, Virtua has seen a 20% increase in colorectal cancer screenings among patients 45 to 49 years old and a 10% overall increase across their entire patient population. Great work, folks! #Healthcare #HealthIT

In a 2024 study out of the University of Pennsylvania, researchers found that offering self-scheduling through Epic increased mammogram completion rates from 22.2% to 49.7%.   In the world of preventive medicine, it’s crucial to make the right option the easy option.   Consider cancer screenings. By giving patients the ability to schedule their own screenings—one less call, a few more minutes in the day, no hold music or business hours to worry about—health systems can increase screening rates and potentially detect and treat certain cancers earlier.   Read more from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine: https://lnkd.in/ey5uCaia #healthcare #healthIT #cancer

When a provider first sees a patient with a rare condition, an unknown condition, or an unusual set of symptoms, it can be difficult to know where to start—even to find someone with experience to draw from. That’s why we’re developing Look-Alikes. Look-Alikes uses insights from Cosmos to find providers who have cared for similar patients across the community of health systems using the tool. Providers treating similar patients can use it to find each other, collaborate on treatment options, broaden their differential diagnoses—whatever makes sense for their patient. Learn more about Cosmos: https://cosmos.epic.com/ #healthcare #healthIT #collaboration

Less than 1/3 of the US population lives in an area with enough mental health professionals available. Enter telehealth.   Behavioral health symptom checkers in MyChart can guide patients to the right type of care for their needs, while on-demand video visits connect patients with a clinician immediately so they don’t have to wait for an in-person visit.   Our friends at Geisinger reduced their waitlist by 84% in six months and improved therapist schedule utilization from 60% to 85% by introducing digital intake screening, scheduling, and appointments in MyChart.   “In many cases, you have a day at most to jump in when people are ready to say they need help,” said Ben Gonzales, Geisinger’s operations manager for virtual care in the psychiatry and behavioral health departments. “Access is so important.”   Congrats, folks!   Read more: https://lnkd.in/gKdHPhFz #healthcare #healthIT #behavioralhealth

The decorative sheep on our farm campus seem to have lives of their own…   Epic staff find them one morning in a conference room, the next on a desk, the next enjoying the sunrise.   We’re sure, of course, that our staff play absolutely no role in the adventures of these furry friends 😉 #healthcare #healthIT #workplace

60 million people—or 1 in 5 Americans—are at risk of losing access to essential healthcare services.   With financial and staffing challenges, rural hospitals across the country are facing potential closure, deepening disparities that already exist between rural and urban populations.   A coalition including Intermountain Health, Microsoft, Gates Ventures, West Health, and Epic formed to help find solutions. Using a “hub-and-spoke” strategy, for example, rural hospitals can collaborate with larger “hub” health systems to access additional technology (like the EHR), staffing, specialty care, and other resources.   Here’s the coalition’s write-up on this kind of collaboration, telehealth, and other remote care technologies that help rural patients receive top-notch care without top-tier travel: https://lnkd.in/gkBxyG9A #healthcare #healthIT #telehealth