Optimum Healthcare IT, a Best in KLAS healthcare staffing and consulting services firm, announced today that the firm completed the go-live of the Epic electronic health record (EHR) system at Valley Children’s Healthcare in Madera, CA. As the only comprehensive pediatric specialty network between Los Angeles and San Francisco—a region covering 45,000 square miles and 1.4 million children, effectively integrating all their care locations from seven different EHR platforms onto a single Epic platform was of utmost importance. The entire go-live project was managed via 100% virtual support by an external vendor, an industry first.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Valley Children’s approached Optimum Healthcare IT about the potential of the project moving forward virtually. Optimum presented a plan that was new to the industry that satisfied the client’s request. Working in partnership with Valley Children’s, the pivot to a virtual go-live was seamless. To support this project, Optimum provided executive oversight, 20+ analysts/application managers, activation program managers and leads, as well as 130+ virtual ATE resources covering all applications of Epic.
Under normal circumstances, taking an EHR live is a complicated, resource-intensive event. When you factor in a global health pandemic and shelter-in-place orders, the complexity increases immensely, said Jason Jarrett, Chief Executive Officer at Optimum Healthcare IT. Our strong partnership with Valley Children’s and their forward-looking mindset made this industry-first go-live a success.
Beginning with virtual one-on-one Activation Readiness activities three-weeks prior, Optimum’s cross-functional and integration expertise was on full display. The project moved into further phases as seamlessly as if the Optimum team was on-site. The same level of oversight and escalation paths were maintained via virtual support rooms, allowing the team to accomplish 80% first-call resolution. Additionally, to ensure the Providers were ready for go-live, Optimum conducted webinars and one-on-one sessions tailored to their needs. Due to COVID-19, a large number of telehealth visits, including video, which is not usually a high need, were supported. The Valley Children’s and Optimum Executive teams remained in constant contact online and regularly attended leadership meetings.
I have been involved in many go-lives over the years, but this one ran smoothly as any that I have seen, said Kevin Shimamoto, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Valley Children’s Healthcare. The remote training and go-live model used allowed us to stay focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, while Optimum ensured our go-live ran uninterrupted.
Optimum Healthcare IT offers highly-rated KLAS training and activation services to assist healthcare organizations in bringing their EHR systems live and ensuring users are fully trained and supported throughout their strategic initiatives. Optimum can customize our offering, either on-site or virtually, to fit the needs of your organization. Whether it is a phased approach or a big-bang go-live, our leadership, training, and support experts are ready to provide the best solutions and services the industry has to offer. With our staff, methodology, and tools, Optimum has the experience to organize, schedule, and manage any size go-live. If you are interested in learning more about Optimum’s Training and Activation Services, please click here.
About Valley Children’s Healthcare Valley Children’s Healthcare provides Central California’s only high-quality, comprehensive care exclusively for children, from before birth to young adulthood. Our network offers highly specialized medical and surgical services to care for children with conditions ranging from common to the highly complex at its 330-bed stand-alone children’s hospital or in one of their three neonatal units (28 beds) located across the Valley. In addition, the Valley Children’s Healthcare network includes specialty care centers, pediatric primary care practices, an urgent care center, and women’s health services.
Our family-centered, pediatric services extend from a leading pediatric cancer, and blood diseases center on the West Coast, and a pediatric heart center known for its expertise and pioneering treatments, to a Regional Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the highest level referral center between Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
Valley Children’s was the first children’s hospital west of the Rockies to receive Magnet Nursing designation, the highest nursing benchmark in the world. It is also one of the fewer than 10 pediatric intensive care units in the nation to have received the Beacon Award of Critical Care Excellence. With more than 575 physicians and 3,400 staff, Valley Children’s delivers high-quality, comprehensive care to more than 1.3 million children in its 12-county service area.
About Optimum Healthcare IT Optimum Healthcare IT is a Best in KLAS healthcare IT staffing and consulting services firm based in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Optimum provides world-class professional staffing services to fill any need as well as consulting services that encompass advisory, EHR implementation, training and activation, EHR optimization, community connect, managed services, enterprise resource planning, security, and ancillary services – supporting our client’s needs through the continuum of care. Our organization is led by a leadership team with extensive experience in providing expert healthcare staffing and consulting solutions to all types of organizations.
Visit www.optimumhit.com or call 1.904.373.0831 to find out how your organization can take advantage of our solution offerings.
