Vice President and Chief Information and Transformation Officer
When Baptist Memorial Health Care and Mississippi Baptist began talking about joining forces back in 2016, technology quickly emerged as a pivotal point of the discussions. With the clear potential of “getting better and stronger together” moving from the conceptual to the possible, our Baptist Technology Services teams in Memphis initiated preliminary technical plans, work, travel and more to recommend the best technical future for each entity and our patients.
Baptist Memorial Health Care made the decision to implement the Epic electronic medical record in 2012 and our teams have worked tirelessly to not only make our transition a success, but to position Baptist as a global leader in electronic health record (EHR) management. Epic continues to be the No. 1 EHR vendor and has a proven record with customers, including Baptist and our more than 32,000 users.
The Baptist OneCare Team with our Epic partners began working with the teams at Mississippi Baptist Health System in late 2016 to formulate a plan to install Epic with and for the various Jackson hospitals and clinics. Here’s a snapshot of some of our work:
- Modules, along with a large collection of supporting applications and equipment will culminate in a major “Voyager” big bang (all products and all sites) go live on Feb. 1, 2018.
- Some of the new supporting applications include Onbase, a new document management system, and Computrition, a new dietary management system.
- We will install Lawson for patient accounting and human resource functions in the future.
- Software requires hardware so the technical teams from both organizations began architecting the infrastructure to create secure connections and design devices that will work seamlessly for all staff and providers.
- The Jackson physicians and staff will be the first to install two new Epic modules- Cupid and Beaker Anatomic Path. These modules will assist our cardiologists and pathologists with innovative workflows to enhance their daily practice.
On April 25, the two organizations were officially connected via a new circuit to allow for communications and testing. This day arrived after a multitude of meetings, calls, site visits, emails, and text messages, which has proven the willingness and confidence of both teams to find a clear path to excellence for those we serve.
Using our proven model of including operational owners in designing the future, our teams have had time to learn about our mutual commonalities as well as our differences and find our way to a blended “new normal” that will equip everyone with the tools necessary to care for patients and the bottom line. Through the Epic integration, the staff in the Jackson hospitals, clinics and other affiliated entities will have improved tools to support their work. A strong added benefit is Baptist OneCare MyChart, which will provide a robust portal for patients to engage in and track their care while also finding new and more efficient ways to communicate with their physician, order medication refills, and schedule appointments, along with other key features. These new patients in the Jackson area will join more than 377,000 Baptist patients already active on the BOC MyChart portal.
As we celebrate this merger and become one Baptist family, our Memphis and Jackson teams feel honored and privileged to discover that our hearts and minds are so closely connected in this sacred work.
We look forward to collaborative work that awaits us prior to go-live and beyond. It is exciting to be a part of history and the future at the same time.
