Today in health, it looking at epics on a roll. My name is bill Russell. I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system and creator of this week health. Instead of channels dedicated to keeping health it staff current and engaged. We want to thank our show sponsors who are investing in developing the next generation of health leaders.
Gordian dynamics, Quill health tau site nuance, Canon medical, and current health. Check them out at this week. health.com/today. So I had a few interesting conversations over the last month. That were related to operational challenges that helps us are having financial challenges to be more specific.
And some of the decisions that have been made and some of the cuts that have been made at various health systems. And we ended up having, well, I ended up having a couple of different conversations around epics honor. Roll. , at, you know, Several health systems have had to make. Some between a rock and a hard place decisions.
And some are choosing to drop below the requirements for honor roll. This is a really difficult. , decision for a lot of health systems. So let me give you a little bit of background on role. For those who aren't familiar is an ingenious program that epic put together, which provides incentives, not small incentives, by the way, rather large incentives in the form of discounts.
For organizations that meet annual requirements for the program. And during good times, it ensures that health systems maintain the investment in their systems to keep them current and incentivize them towards things that are good for the entire As determined by epic of course, but I haven't heard any complaints
Most would agree that the requirements to maintain on a roll have kept health system leaders in check.
Why is this necessary? These are the same people who will starve a data center until 75% of the equipment is end of life. Unless there's a strong local leadership. In place to educate and inform them on the risks associated with such activities. And even then they might choose to serve capital investments in favor of.
I don't know, keeping the lights on again, not bad decisions. Just. Very difficult decisions. This is the kind of situation I entered in when I came into St. Joe's I, you know, 75% of our data center or more. Was end of life. And at that point you just have to make a significant investment to bring everything back to where it should be. So instead of making those investments all along the way,
Which is what should happen. You end up having to make a significant investment to catch up and then get on Annual cycle where you're keeping things updated and current well, , epic put on roll together and a keeps health system, leadership teams in check. They look at it and go If we make this change.
We, we could, , jeopardize a significant amount. Of. Of. Incentives that come to us via the EHR, which would increase, increase their costs. So during bad times they can exacerbate and already hard decision that health systems are trying to make. , if we make this decision essentially fall below epics on roll
We put at rest potentially, I don't know, half a million. Let's just say half a million dollars. This number I heard. For a moderately sized cell system, half million dollars or more in incentives. However, if we don't make these changes, We protect a portion of the it budget from any cuts while making incredibly hard decisions to cut services.
To our community, right? So you're actually cutting a care delivery or you're cutting departments or you're cutting. I mean, these are really difficult decisions. And, you know, as I look at that, I don't really have a problem with honor roll On a roll as ingenious and address a problem. That we were seeing repeated itself over and over in healthcare. It keeps organizations investing in an incredibly important asset.
And let's not forget that health systems made the choice to go with epic. In record numbers after evaluate, evaluating all their options. And in the end they chose this path. They knew what was associated with on roll. And quite frankly, it starts it. On the first day you go with epic. They are very, , prescriptive about how you will implement.
Their platform. And so you have an idea of the partner you're, you're, , you're getting in bed with. , you know, what can be done about the rock and a hard place problem. I think number one, epic can hopefully provide some leniency in the program for health systems that are struggling. I think the second thing is epic could accelerate programs.
Designed to save health system, operating dollars as a focus. And a great example of this is eliminating the need for the Citrix platform to run hyperspace, , moving to hyperdrive and, and, , getting to the web platform, , focus resources on operating cost reductions and free up operating dollars to support health systems during these challenging times.
It is. You know, the question is, is honor roll. Good for healthcare. Absolutely. Yes, it is. Does that question and answer get more complicated and tough financial times. You bet. If you can't afford to drive a Cadillac, you need the option to drive something that costs a little less. For a period of
, but still gets your, you and your family from point a to point B. , anytime I talk about epic, I get emails. Judy has a well-earned cult-like And you can count me as a fan, but that doesn't mean we can't question, , some of the methods and practices from time to time. So, , to make it easier for you. My email address is bill at this week. health.com. Love to hear your comments that's all for today. If you know someone that might benefit from our channel, please forward them a note.
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