What does it take for an entire network of safety net health centers to transition to a new electronic health record (EHR) system — one that captures patient data from providers at every clinic and emergency room a patient visits, all in a single chart that follows the patients wherever they go? For Community Health Center Network (CHCN), it was a multiyear journey involving many readiness assessments, food and celebrations to encourage staff buy-in, and lots of collaboration across all levels of the organization. In this episode, we discuss lessons learned and the bright spots of this enormous project.
Listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and elsewhere. Below is a transcript of the episode, edited for readability.
EPISODE TEASER / Molly Hart (guest):
“…I would say one of the top highlights was hearing from the providers posting about what a difference it made to have access to patient data from other health organizations from within OCHIN Epic. There were cases where maybe a patient had been to the ER or been admitted to the hospital. Maybe some of their medications had been changed. Maybe a diagnosis had been added that they weren’t previously aware of. That really made a difference once the patient was back seeing their primary care provider, and maybe even saved lives in some cases.”
Jessica Ortiz (host):
Hi everyone, I’m Jessica Ortiz with the Center for Care Innovations. Today, we’re talking about one of the exciting projects, Community Health Center Network, also known as CHCN has been working on for several years. Our hope is that by sharing the highs and lows of this particular digital health solution, safety net organizations can apply the lessons learned here to their own challenges. I’m here with Molly Hart and Amit Pabla, members of our Tech Hub Learning Network, which is comprised of 14 tech for our California based community health centers, clinic coalitions, and primary care departments in county health systems, that are working to accelerate the adoption of innovative technology. We partner with our Tech Hub members to vet, pilot, evaluate, and spread innovative digital health solutions that are targeting Medicaid markets, and historically under invested communities. We are excited to bring you this story today.
Jessica Ortiz:
Amit and Molly, maybe Amit we can start with you. Can you tell our listeners a bit about who you are and your organization?
Amit Pabla (guest):
Hello everyone. My name is Amit Pabla. I am the Chief Quality and Transformation Officer for Axis Community Health. My team and I oversee ITIS which is now Epic, and quality improvement efforts. We have the aligned mission of transforming healthcare for our patients and kind of staying ahead of that healthcare curve. Axis Community Health is in Eastern Alameda County, we’re predominantly in Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, and the San Ramon areas of California. And we serve about 15,000 patients per year.
Molly Hart (guest):
And hi everyone, my name is Molly Hart. I’m the Director of Clinical Optimization at Community Health Center Network or CHCN. CHCN is a consortium of eight federally qualified health centers, headquartered in Alameda County and the surrounding Bay Area counties with Axis Community Health, being one of our member health centers. Our health centers have a long history of working together since back in the 1970s, to improve care across our communities through our sister organization, which is the Alameda Health Consortium, and CHCN started in the 90’s focusing on providing business, technical support, and services around Medi-Cal managed care.
Molly Hart:
My role is sort of at the crossroads of where quality improvement, data and technology meet, particularly focusing on our electronic health record systems with a goal of continuous quality improvement. So I work with our quality leads, clinicians, health IT departments, and analytics teams on projects that improve efficiency, and work to optimize our electronic health record system and improve quality.
Jessica Ortiz:
We’re excited to hear about the project that you have been working on collectively. Where did you get started?
Molly Hart:
So today we’re going to talk about the transition to OCHIN Epic that our health centers undertook across the network, which was a multi-year project starting from, I think around 2017, when in earnest, we started having conversations about making the transition all the way through 2020 – when our health centers, our final health center, implemented and went live with OCHIN Epic.
Jessica Ortiz:
And thinking about your solution, could you share a bit more about Epic and what that process was like for making sure that there was a mission fit and operational fit, and sustainability of making this transition?
Molly Hart:
So in deciding whether OCHIN Epic was the right fit for our health centers and across our network, we spent quite a bit of time vetting the organization and the technology, and really looking at the strategic goals for our network as well. We took delegations on-site visits to other OCHIN Epic members. We brought another OCHIN Epic member that was a network of organizations like ours, to visit us and met with them, and really spent time in the vetting process, making sure that our health centers and our board of directors, which are comprised of the CEOs of each of our eight member health centers, were really on board with this. A document that we created that was actually really helpful as part of this process for our board, I think was titled something like, “Why OCHIN? Why Epic?” And, “Why now?”
Molly Hart:
And in that we really looked at strategically whether or not OCHIN Epic was the right fit across our network. “Why Epic?” Was probably the easiest question to answer in that, most of the hospitals and specialists that our patients also receive care at across the region were already on Epic. And so in terms of interoperability and patient data exchange, there was really a plus moving to Epic, to be able to more easily exchange patient data. We didn’t have really a functioning HIE in the Bay Area whereas other parts of California that data exchange might already be easier, that was really a missing piece for us. So that was a huge part of it. We also know that many new providers that come to our health centers already had experience with Epic, maybe from their medical school or training.
Molly Hart:
And so we also saw the move to Epic as a way to increase provider satisfaction, recruitment and retention. In terms of, “Why OCHIN?” OCHIN, they’re an organization that’s based out in Portland, Oregon, and they host a specific instance of Epic that has been built for federally-qualified health centers (FQHC), and for the safety net. And so, as opposed to getting Epic, maybe directly through a hospital, or working directly with Epic on an implementation, a lot of that build around the needs for FQHCs had already been done by OCHIN. They are also a mission-driven organization, again, focusing on Medicaid populations and focusing on the safety net. And then they really had a long history of a collaborative approach with their members. One of the issues we were concerned about was their footprint in California.
Molly Hart:
So they had some health centers and public health departments in California, although they work across the country, but CHCN going live on OCHIN Epic and our health centers was really going to represent a pretty big increase in their California membership. And so that was an issue that was part of the conversation in terms of what kind of staffing and support they’d be able to provide specifically for California’s needs. Because we all know that we’re special and have special programs, and requirements that we need to focus on as California based FQHCs. The final of the three questions we were asking ourselves as part of that vetting process was, “Why now?” And we were lucky enough to secure funding for the transition from Kaiser and from Sutter, who both contributed a lot to really help us with the transition.
Molly Hart:
And that was really fueled by their interest in delivering community benefits as well as their own future business strategies. They were also interested in seamless data exchange between the patients seen at their organizations, and those that are seen at our health centers. Although, we never could have anticipated a global pandemic, we did see that the rate of change in the health center industry was speeding up, and belonging to a strong collaborative with the resources to enable these types of system changes really seemed like a wise move as well, for the future.
Amit Pabla:
From a health center’s perspective, it was a culture change too, and the culture that we wanted to be part of. One thing that OCHIN kept saying is, and even Epic was saying, is the chart follows the patient. So, there’s one single chart, theoretically, with all of the patient’s information living there. So, in order to make quality and informed decisions, we were setting ourselves up for success.
Amit Pabla:
When we think about our old legacy system, we had duplicate charts as well, too. And that which is more prone for error. So I think that was one thing that kind of attracted the health centers as well too, obviously continuity of care, and having access to a lot more information when it comes to interoperability. But those were a couple of things that kind of hooked us as well, strategically, and from the patient’s perspective.
Jessica Ortiz:
It’s really nice to have those two different approaches or experiences. Kind of at the higher strategic level at CHCN, and then also at the FQHC – clinic level, and those different experiences.
Could you share with the listeners your top highlight of your project this far. Maybe we can start with you, Molly.
Molly Hart:
Sure. I would say one of the top highlights was hearing from the providers post go-live about what a difference it made to have access to patient data from other health organizations from within OCHIN Epic. There were cases where maybe a patient had been to the ER or been admitted to the hospital. Maybe some of their medications had been changed. Maybe a diagnosis had been added that they weren’t previously aware of. That really made a difference once the patient was back seeing their primary care provider, and maybe even saved lives in some cases. So that has definitely been a highlight of the transition.
Molly Hart:
Another highlight, I would say is just the ongoing partnership with OCHIN Epic. As we delved into a global pandemic, there was a huge need for making system changes and making them very quickly as our health centers worked to set up testing sites, and then set up vaccination sites, and make other changes within the system, and OCHIN Epic has been a really great partner in being able to build and get out those system changes very quickly. And in partnership with all of the member health organizations that are part of the collaborative.
Amit Pabla:
For me, I feel like my best moments are ongoing. And it’s about, like reaping the benefits of going live with Epic. Our retention rate since going live with Epic has been close to a hundred percent. We are able to recruit our physicians coming right out of medical school, because Epic is the EHR that they have learned medicine with. Being part of the OCHIN collaborative has been huge for us when it comes to participating in research, participating in pilots, having access to grants. Molly was talking about when the pandemic hit. When the pandemic hit, Axis had been live with OCHIN Epic for over a year. And we were already using Zoom and telehealth technologies with that.
Amit Pabla:
So, once we went live, the transition to telehealth being on Epic was smooth having access to patients that were in the hospital for COVID that when you needed to track and monitor after discharge was smooth. So, reaping the benefits, 1) from recruitment retention, interoperability standpoint, and 2) not knowing that a pandemic put us in this position where we needed to utilize all our resources and utilize OCHIN Epic’s help was so instrumental during a smooth transition throughout the pandemic.
Jessica Ortiz:
How have individual health centers taken advantage of the knowledge and experience of the broader OCHIN network during this transition?
Molly Hart:
Well, both at the OCHIN level and also at the CHCN level, we have several work groups focused on different issues which really provide an opportunity for health centers to learn from each other, and to share best practices much in the way that happens with Tech Hubs as well. So, at CHCN we have medical directors, CMO work group. We have a quality improvement work group. We have an ITIS work group, a data analytics and reporting work group. And one that’s actually focused, it’s called ESOC, which is another acronym that we made up, which stands for Epic Strategic Optimization Committee, where we work on projects that will be helpful in optimizing the Epic system across, particularly the CHCN health centers, so focused on our special needs.
Molly Hart:
At the OCHIN level, they also have work groups for clinicians, for site specialists, which are the roles that are really responsible for implementing all of the new updates and changes, and getting the word out to clinical staff about changes in the system, as well as several other work groups focused on different topics. So those are two of the ways in which we continue to learn from each other as the partnership continues with OCHIN Epic and across CHCN.
Amit Pabla:
Yes, I also think that there’s a hundred, I believe there’s now a hundred organizations that are in the OCHIN collaborative. So when it comes to picking each other’s brains or saying, “Hey, is there any other health center that might be doing what we’re doing?” There’s a hundred people that we could reach out to, and there’s a platform for us to do that. The other advantage and culture change has been the upgrades. All hundred organizations go on upgrades at the same time. You do not have a choice.
Amit Pabla:
You go, and it’s a lot smoother in terms of upgrades when we went on our legacy systems, like we don’t have a choice. So, the same issues that we might be experiencing, another organization is definitely experiencing as well, too. So the resolution to those issues are done more rapidly than if we were on our own enterprise system doing our own thing.
Jessica Ortiz:
Amit, I have a follow-up question related to how this impacted individual health centers like Axis. How did you manage the human factors aspect of this with the transition?
Amit Pabla:
Yeah, there were a lot of humans involved with a lot of different personalities. The thing was, and trying to invoke a culture change, we tried to make it as fun as possible. The Epic transition will go down as one of the most rewarding and funnest experiences that I have been able to participate in. So, food plays a huge factor – this was pre-COVID. So if there was food available every single day. We had an Epic launch party with a photo booth. We had our legacy system. There’s a lot of providers and staff that were not happy with our legacy system, which helped us transition. We turned that into a pinata, and we were able to hit that legacy system–
Jessica Ortiz:
–That’s amazing–
Amit Pabla:
So, we made that fun, the entire process in terms of getting feedback from our providers and from our frontline staff, in terms of the workflows and engaging every single department into it as an experience, rather than as denoting it as something that we had to do, was huge. Going live, and celebrating that moment, and engaging all our staff, and really recognizing our staff as being huge components of our success was instrumental, as well.
Amit Pabla:
There were staff that was recognized with certificates, with gift cards. So rather than it being like, “oh, here’s another thing that administration decided to do.” It was, “Hey, this was a group decision.” Everyone agreed in terms of… Most of our staff agreed that this was the best thing for us. So having that camaraderie throughout the process made it as successful as it has been.
Molly Hart:
I was lucky enough to be invited to some of those celebratory parties. So I can second that and say that making it fun really, really made a huge difference in getting the buy-in of all of the staff that needed to really go through a huge change. Just to add to that. I would say that preparation made a big difference as well in terms of getting the staff ready for the change. OCHIN Epic did a readiness assessment with each of the health centers to look at the current state, talk to all of the staff, and really figure out what might need to be in place in order for the change to be successful, and then ongoing support as well.
Molly Hart:
So along with the go-live, CHCN and OCHIN, both provided support to the health centers – at the elbow support – to be working directly with providers during those first couple of weeks when issues came up, maybe when there was a patient in the exam room and they had to run out and say, “Help – I’m not sure how to do this.” Or “This is a workflow that we haven’t developed yet.” There was a lot of refining of the system that happened in those first couple of weeks as well. And having that ongoing support really made a difference in helping the health centers and the clinicians to get back up to speed quickly.
Amit Pabla:
So OCHIN has like a blueprint, a recommendation in terms of how they’d like clinics to go-live, right? So they have different milestones and things of that nature. We took a look at that, and then we added in additional “mini” milestones for Axis to reinforce a lot of what OCHIN was training us on. The readiness assessment that Molly mentioned was huge for us as well, too, and let us know what we needed to work on before our project even started. Our infrastructure, our technology, what we needed, the hardware we needed to purchase, what we needed to centralize and what we didn’t. And then as we were going through… As we were getting ready, the training was critical too. So OCHIN sent a staff down to do a general training on the workflows.
Amit Pabla:
What OCHIN taught us were the functionalities of the system, and now this is what we’re going to use it, and when we’re going use it, providing those guidelines to our staff, using different circumstances, using test patients – really solidified our workflows even more, and drilled it down to be more specific than what OCHIN provided us. And that really helped us as well. So we added an additional, I guess, training processes, office hours. Even when we went live, we had a command center. OCHIN provided elbow support, and then we had an additional team from CHCN, as well as our information system staff that provided elbow support. So we did everything that OCHIN did to make sure that it was going to be successful.
Molly Hart:
Yeah. And that was really key and it was really up to the health centers. In that case, it was a big role, and a big part of their success was being able to take the training from OCHIN that was generic for community health centers, but not for the specific community health centers. Each of them know their own needs, their own programs, their own workflow. So being able to then take that generic training, develop specific workflows and adapt it to the needs of the health centers, and for those that took the time and effort to really work on those workflows in advance, and even after go-live, they were very successful.
Amit Pabla:
My advice is to take a systematic approach, do not rush it. The budgeting process was critical as well too, in order for us to understand our costs, we were committed to ramping up at a pace that our providers were comfortable with and reducing our schedules. In that time where we reduced schedules, we provided ample time for our providers to set up their preferences, to set up their shortcuts, so that when we did go back to full schedule, our providers were comfortable and they thought that it was an appropriate ramp up. But we took the time to make some of those things happen. And we took the funding as well too, in terms of budgeting to ensure that there was funding available for that time to take our providers out of clinic to really embrace the system, and to eventually optimize it.
Molly Hart:
Yeah. Amit, I think you brought this up already, but OCHIN does have recommendations in terms of, I believe it’s cutting down to 50, was it 50 or 25% of visits for the first week, and then ramping up pretty quickly to be back at a hundred percent within the first month, which seemed incredibly ambitious to us when we heard about it. And I think taking our past experience into account, but for the most part, our health centers were able to meet and even exceed those goals.
Amit Pabla:
Yeah. I think we were at 100% by three weeks, which was amazing. And it was because of the structure that we had to put in place in terms of elbow support, and providing time for providers to become efficient by developing their, what we call “smart list and smart phrases,” and things of that nature.
Jessica Ortiz:
That’s really impressive work. And just want to again, highlight the importance of taking the time, listening to folks, making sure that you are making that process fun. I love, Molly, that you’re invited to some of these gatherings to celebrate and share food meals together. I am curious – and I know we touched on this a little bit with the human factors – what were the biggest challenges that you faced from project, both from the kind of high-level perspective and the clinic perspective? Maybe we’ll start with Molly.
Molly Hart:
Well, I think you hit the nail on the head, Jessica with saying human factors. So that was probably the biggest challenge and the most amorphous challenge to deal with. And so we saw a variety of ways across our health centers that the staff and leadership worked to get everyone on board, get them excited about the change, and to support them throughout the change to get down to sort of the nitty-gritty of the implementation. I think one of the biggest challenges was data conversion.
Molly Hart:
So, looking at the legacy system and all of the patient data that was in there and working through the process of figuring out which data was going to be transferred into the new system as structured data, what might need to be manually added to the new system, and what could be left behind. OCHIN Epic also had recommendations around data conversion, and a generic set of data that they usually would include as part of their data conversion. And across CHCN, all of our health centers asked for more. So more data going further back, additional data fields that they felt were really important to have in the new system for patient care. So we definitely pushed OCHIN Epic to add more to what they were used to in terms of data conversion for better or for worse.
Molly Hart:
And the process was time consuming, took a ton of planning, and then also working with the legacy system that might not be as excited or willing to put the time and effort in when you’re leaving them and going to a new system was also a challenge in making sure that things ran smoothly in terms of the extraction, and then the load, and then also quite a bit of testing that needed to be done by the health center staff who are the ones that know their patients, and the patient data to really see if things had come through correctly, and if they could be validated and depended on for the go-live.
Molly Hart:
So, we also worked with a third-party organization that OCHIN Epic had recommended to take all of our legacy data and have it available in an archive system that was available from within OCHIN Epic, through a link in the system. So, for the data that didn’t come through as structured data into the new system, it was still available to be researched and to be used when needed, which was another added factor that gave a little bit of peace of mind, I think, to the clinicians and staff that were worried about losing any important data from the legacy system.
Amit Pabla:
Yeah, very similar from the health center perspective. Data conversion, and maybe the interfaces are the ones that are probably the most nerve wracking because it ends up being a patient safety and quality issue, and reliable for that. In terms of data conversion at the end of the day, it’s the human factor as well, too, in terms of we’re prone to error. So knowing that data conversion is not going to be a hundred percent valid and accurate. Ensuring that the patient’s information did not go into another patient’s chart, having staffing available to double check that and to do validation checks were huge. Axis was the first one to go-live.
Amit Pabla:
So we were very conservative when it came to, “Hey, these are the fields that are going to be converted over,” OCHIN says that they are confident and they have done this before. So we’re going to leave it at that. Anything new that said that, where OCHIN said that this was going to be their first time converting. We said, “No.” That we will have staff to something that we needed to come up with, but we are going to have staff to manually abstract that information, just like we did the first time we went live into Epic. I do remember the first three weeks we worked out of two EHRs because we decided not to bring over the appointment information. So, we had two monitors, one had our legacy information in [it], one was Epic, and we were data entering just that information over live while the patient was there. We were reentering their billing information.
Amit Pabla:
So that was challenging, but we thought it was necessary. Looking back at it now that we’ve been live for almost three years now, it was a good decision because a lot of our information is accurate. We also used eye-to-eye as our population health management tool, which had really up-to-date alerts, as little health maintenance alerts that a lot of the scanned documents weren’t able to capture. So we did a lot of manual entry there, manual abstraction entry. It’s a little cringeworthy, right, because it’s mundane work, but that mundane work proved to be critical and really valuable to us.
Jessica Ortiz:
That sounds like a huge lift, but again, making sure that something that’s being done for the first time, you want to make sure that it’s done right with such a big change. For my next question, I know that, I think Molly, you touched on this a little bit with COVID 19, but I’m curious. I know that Axis went live pre-pandemic. During the pandemic, what was it like continuing this rollout of OCHIN Epic and innovating in the middle of a pandemic?
Molly Hart:
It was difficult, and scary, and nerve-wracking. We had one health center, one of our largest health centers, La Clinica – whose go-live date was in April of 2020. So, the pandemic was in full force at that time. And there was a lot of considerations about whether or not it made sense to hold off on the go-live, and ultimately La Clinica decided to move forward with their original go-live date while everything else was happening, which seemed like a huge lift at the time and certainly was, but in retrospect was definitely the right decision as the pandemic went on a little longer than the few weeks we anticipated in March and April of 2020.
Molly Hart:
One of the sort of odd advantages of them going live during that time is that there weren’t a lot of patients coming into the health center. So, in a way, those worries about productivity and patient visits were somewhat ameliorated because they were already working at a lower capacity in terms of patient visits, right during that time. However, of course all of their staff were incredibly busy with other competing priorities as they were working to stand up telehealth, to see patients in that way and just to provide the best care they could during this very uncertain time.
Molly Hart:
So extremely proud of the work that La Clinica did to go-live during the midst of all that. It was also the only health center where OCHIN provided their support virtually, which was something that I think they had maybe done with one other health center, but was a relatively new way of going live and providing support for them as well. And so that was a question mark and a concern that I think ultimately turned out fairly well. So, we were very lucky in that the health center had done a ton of preparation and really was thoughtful about their decision to move forward, and that OCHIN was still able to provide really helpful support, even virtually.
Jessica Ortiz:
I’m always so impressed that I hear these stories of folks who transition in a week or two weeks to telehealth, and also now hearing that they’re making other transitions as well, it’s just incredibly impressive, people doing really important work during a hard time. And in thinking about all of these different organizations within this learning network that we have, and we’re big believers in collaboration, not reinventing the wheel, moving forward together, being in this learning community, how did your peers in the program support and help you push this project forward?
Molly Hart:
Well, I can say certainly that just being a part of Tech Hubs has really helped with the skillset of how to vet technology and some of the thought process and questions to ask yourself before making moves around what to implement. So that’s been huge. And then really just the folks that are part of the program as well, always being able to serve as a sounding board to think through questions of change. A couple of the Tech Hubs members are CHCN health centers. So certainly, there’s a lot of exchange and sharing of lessons learned, and best practices as well with those members.
Amit Pabla:
From my perspective, I feel like I have gone through the adversity of hearing one thing from the salesperson and experiencing something completely different. Once you implement that technology, Tech Hubs provides us a platform to again, echoing what Molly said, vet technology with people that have already implemented that solution, you have access to your colleagues’ and cohorts’ experiences. That is the raw, honest truth rather than a sales pitch, and seeing a demo where everything works. So I think that is one of the most advantageous things that being part of Tech Hubs is able to provide.
Jessica Ortiz:
And I know that in this learning network, and even beyond there are FQs and organizations that are considering the same switch that you made to OCHIN Epic. What advice might you give them as they’re thinking through going this process of making a decision, whether they want to make the switch?
Molly Hart:
Well, I know that the Tech Hubs group is full of strategic thinkers. So I don’t need to tell anyone to think about it strategically, but really that was a big part of the process for us thinking through whether or not moving to Epic makes sense in your particular region with the other specialists, and hospitals, and healthcare organizations that might be there, is interoperability really a big need, or do you already have a functioning HIE, health information exchange where patient data is already kind of flowing across the systems pretty easily?
Molly Hart:
The collaborative aspect is another big part to consider. For our health centers that had really maximized usage of their legacy system, they lost a little bit of freedom to customize the system by joining OCHIN Epic. It’s not as easy to make all of the changes in the world because some changes are made at the collaborative level. However, many healthcare organizations in the safety net are under-resourced, and having that collaborative as a way to move things through more quickly can also be a big advantage. So, thinking through that aspect of it. Additionally, this applies with third party vendors, because OCHIN Epic works with a limited set of third-party vendors to facilitate those processes. So, they help manage those relationships, however, they’re going to limit the number of vendors that they work with.
Molly Hart:
Cost is definitely a factor and something to think about, and then really the project itself as well. So who’s on your team thinking about, really having engaged executive support, IT support, clinical buy-in, the finance department, the billing department, highly involved reporting, quality improvement – every department it affects. And so, making sure that buy-in is part of it, and really talking to each of those departments to see if it makes sense for them as well. We learned so much from the transition and of course, we’d be happy to talk to any of the members in Tech Hubs that might be considering this transition as well, and at least share more about our experiences.
Amit Pabla:
From my perspective, same thing. Strategically to think about it, try to notice the trends that are happening within the market as well, too, locally and at the state, and national level is what’s happening out there. And, “does it align with our mission?” We all have three to five to 10 year strategic plans. I know from Axis’ perspective when we took a look at transitioning to Epic, it marked, checked the box from maybe 15 to 20 initiatives that we had said that we were going to do in the next five years. So that was huge for us. And at the end of the day, I think all good things happen with timing. If there’s an opportunity where money is falling out of the sky, or someone comes up to you with a proposition saying, “Hey, there’s funding available to make this transition,” because it is very costly – then, you have to make that decision right then and there. And that happened with good timing, and that is how we got to where we ended up being. So yeah, I would just say to consider those doctors, and again, echoing what Molly said, is please use us as a resource as you’re having these discussions, or if you’re thinking about transitioning to Epic. It’s no small fee or undertaking. So there’s people out there that have done it and have done it successfully, not just Molly or myself but a lot of… There’s a cohort of people that have transitioned EHRs. So please use those people as resources.
Jessica Ortiz:
Thank you so much Amit and Molly for sharing your experience and your expertise. I am curious what’s next for you.
Molly Hart:
Well, we’re continuing to optimize the system with OCHIN Epic. That’s a project that never ends. Thinking about CalAIM and future changes that are happening in our state with telehealth, and with the expansion of remote patient monitoring programs – where those have been stood up over the last couple of years. Really to just continuing to work within our network, and in partnership with OCHIN Epic, to do all we can to make the system function as best it can to provide really great high-quality care for our patients.
Molly Hart:
We are also continuing to support the health centers as COVID work goes on in terms of making sure that those patients who are still unvaccinated are able to get vaccines, and then really refocusing on our quality work and equity work, and all of the work that we didn’t have the resources to focus on as much during the last couple of years. And trying to find ways to reengage staff in this work in a way that isn’t burdensome, but really helps to provide joy and support for staff that have been overburdened and overworked for the last couple of years as well. So, we have plenty to do moving forward.
Amit Pabla:
Yeah. Axis is going to continue to be forward thinking, and innovative, and embracing technology. And as part of that strategy, OCHIN is a huge collaborative partner. So, we are going to continue to work with OCHIN to do more PDSAs and pilot more technology. OCHIN has this great knack for finding resources and finding additional tech vendors. They’re always working with Epic in Wisconsin to try out new things, and Axis is going to continue to volunteer to be guinea pigs so that we have the latest and greatest. So we’re going to continue with that approach.
Jessica Ortiz:
Sounds great. –Yes, I echo that Molly, lots of work to do. It was really great to have you all here and have this discussion. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with the broader Safety Net Community, and we appreciate you continuing to be a part of this learning community.
Molly Hart:
Thank you. It’s been really fun. We enjoyed it.
Amit Pabla:
Thank you for having us.
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