Dear Physician:
The Bon Secours Health System has announced the selection of EPIC Healthcare’s Clinical Information System, for installation system-wide, culminating nearly four years of review and evaluation
Bon Secours Health System realizes CIS supports the overall mission and goals of the organization, to deliver safe, high quality care, while containing cost and increasing market share, and will enable care providers to perform at their highest level, as well as to advance their competitive position in the communities they serve.
The selection process began in 2002, but was put on hold in 2003 as the magnitude of the project became evident. A small team was named in 2005 to build on the work done in the prior years.
This team updated previous work and led a validation process that included local clinicians. Their work culminated in the recent System-wide decision of the number one rated system that was recently implemented across the Kaiser Permanente system.
The CIS implementation is not an IS project, but is rather a clinical and operational initiative supported by Information Services. The implementation will standardize across the BSHSI health system, striving to achieve 80% standardization in order to maximize the capability of the CIS.
Successful implementation will require physicians, nurses and ancillary clinicians to be “engaged” as change leaders in the project in order to achieve clinical process improvement.
An enterprise install team will begin building the model during the remainder of 2006. The pilot at our sister St. Francis Hospital in Greenville, S.C., will be done in 2007. The Richmond install is scheduled for 2008 and the rest of the health system sites in 2009-2010.
It is important to remember that this is the largest project Bon Secours has ever undertaken in terms of human capital, cultural transformation and costs. It is not for the faint of heart and it will change every clinical work process.
I would appreciate your comments about the site and have attached my email link along with a link to a short, five-question survey. Thanks for your partnership.
