Minnesota-based Sanford Health finalized an agreement today to enable Rainy Lake Medical Center to use its Epic EHR.
Rainy Lake Medical Center recently became an affiliate of Sanford Health as part of an effort to enable patients and providers to use Sanford’s integrated Epic EHR system, according to International Falls Journal.
As part of the affiliation agreement, Rainy Lake will have the opportunity to join onto Sanford’s Epic EHR system and utilize its health IT infrastructure while remaining and independent organization.
Over the next year, all care facilities part of the Rainy Lake network will transition to Sanford’s Epic system. Physicians, nurses, and clinicians in outpatient care settings will be able to access and view a single patient health record as patients move across the care continuum.
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“Health care is changing, and we must change with it,” said Rainy Lake Medical Center CEO Robert Pastor. “We are excited for this opportunity to partner with Sanford. The implementation of Epic will move us to the most widely used and advanced integrated EHR.”
“This means that regardless where a patient may access care across our health systems, their comprehensive medical record will be available to their providers, nurses and other health professionals. Our patients will appreciate the convenience, privacy, personal access and other benefits the Epic system provides,” Pastor added.
Rainy Lake patients will also gain access to Epic’s patient portal, MyChart. Patients can use MyChart to securely view lab test data, message providers, pay bills, and schedule appointments online.
“Implementing this advanced software system would not be feasible without a coordinated effort and partnership with Sanford Health. Partnering with Sanford allows us to implement the best electronic health record technology in the industry,” Pastor said.
Rainy Lake Medical Center offers urgent care, emergency care, surgery, cardiology, rehab, chemo, family medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, therapy, and other services. Sanford Health is one of the largest health systems in the country.
“Sanford Health and Rainy Lake Medical Center have a long standing relationship in serving patients of northern Minnesota,” said Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota President Bryan Nermoe.
“Since 2014, we have operated an eye center and optical location within Rainy Lake Clinic. Over the past five years we have provided outreach services in ophthalmology, cardiology, nephrology, medical oncology and served as a reference lab for the hospital,” added Nermoe.
Sanford Health includes 44 hospitals, 1,400 physicians, and more than 200 Good Samaritan Society senior care locations in 26 states and nine countries.
“A closer affiliation between Rainy Lake Medical Center and Sanford seeks to address the changing health care environment so that we can all continue to offer the best patient care possible. We are thrilled to be working with such a strong partner to enhance patient care in the region,” said Nermoe.
Other large health systems including Mercy Health have extended their existing Epic EHR technology to smaller healthcare organizations to help providers affordably improve their health IT infrastructure.
In 2017, Tahoe Forest Health Systems and Mercy Health partnered to allow Tahoe to use Mercy’s Epic EHR system.
Mercy’s IT division offers assistance to hospitals with Epic EHR implementations through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) partnership. The SaaS deployment model is especially helpful for small and midsized hospitals that may not be able to afford their own on-premise infrastructure.
Mercy Health was an early adopter of Epic EHR, implementing their first fully-integrated system in 2004.
Mercy Technology Services is the first IT services provider given approval to extend Epic EHR to other healthcare organizations. The IT division has been offering its technical and consulting services for Epic, data analytics, and other health IT services since 2014.
Date: July 22, 2019
Source: EHRIntelligence