The long-anticipated launch of Epic’s new scaled-down Electronic Health Record (EHR), known as Sonnet, took place in March at HIMSS18 with tremendous excitement. Sonnet is intended for smaller to mid-sized hospitals, critical access hospitals, post-acute care facilities, long-term care facilities, and physician practices, who either do not require all of the functionality of a full version EHR or don’t have the budget or the resources needed to implement the full version of Epic. Through the use of Sonnet, these smaller systems will have access to a scaled-down version of Epic which falls at a more competitive price point and with a significantly quicker implementation timeline. “It’s still the same Epic, it has a fully integrated inpatient-outpatient, rev cycle, and patient portal,” Adam Whitlatch, Epic’s research and development team lead, toldHealthcare Dive in February. Additionally, Sonnet will allow smaller hospitals a clear and attainable add-on/upgrade path with the ability to adopt different features of Epic as they expand.
It’s an exciting move for Epic on the heels of Epic CEO Judy Faulkner’s call for a shift in collective thought when she announced she would now refer to the EHR as CHR. To Judy, and I believe many of us, the letter change represents the bigger picture. “Healthcare is now focusing on keeping people well rather than reacting to illness. We are now focusing on factors outside the traditional walls,” Faulkner told Healthcare IT News. In the future, the CHR will include more types of data, such as social determinants, sleeping patterns, diet, access to fresh foods, exercise, and whether they are lonely or depressed because all of those factors can have an enormous impact on an individual’s health.
Epic continues to increase its footprint with the addition of Sonnet; aiming to capture a market segment which KLAS research identified in 2016 as the most significant buyers of EHRs in the U.S. accounting for nearly 80% of all sales. This portion of the market has historically been dominated by Athena Health, e-Clinical works, NextGen and the like.
It will be interesting to watch how Sonnet is received in the market and if Epic can successfully move into the community hospital space. It can be argued that Epic is the undisputed leader in the healthcare IT market with Cerner a close second as it pertains to healthcare organizations over 300 beds. The ultimate question is if a scaled-down Epic EHR can garner the same level of success in this space? If Epic can balance the functionality needs to support the complexity of healthcare, while maintaining a light-version of Epic that is easy to maintain and satisfactory to providers, then they will be successful.
Still, with an implementation of this size, there is a lot of complexity. As with all implementations, it is vital to have a structured plan in place that includes how to most efficiently manage the retirement of legacy systems, an effective communication and change management strategy, resource allocation, and the proper training of your current staff. Getting it right the first time is the differentiator of a successful install. Engaging with the right advisory partner can be the key to managing costs. The right partner can aide in making decisions regarding how to best approach an installation from a best practices/”lessons learned” perspective. Often, a new install is the largest investment many hospitals of this size will make in a fiscal year. Doing it right can have great reward, but missing the mark, can have costly implications.
As a community hospital, if the implementation of your EHR isn’t correct, the future care of your patients and the financial stability of your organization could be in jeopardy. Optimum Healthcare IT has the people, the expertise, and the experience to ensure that your EHR is implemented correctly and smoothly.
