June 15, 2009

To Faculty and Staff of the Miller School and UHealth,

Over the past few years, the Miller School has made great strides in improving clinical care, administration and revenue operations. The University of Miami Health System – UHealth is now taking another bold step, adding a key component that will transform virtually every facet of our operations. Last week, the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees approved the purchase of the Epic system for the Miller School of Medicine and UHealth. Epic is an integrated clinical and revenue cycle information system. It will optimize our ability to access patients’ information by allowing us to maintain a complete, up-to-date record of each patient’s medical history in one electronic file, as well as transform our billing and revenue cycles, helping to reduce costs while also simplifying the scheduling and registration process. The system will also contribute to our clinical research opportunity, with the appropriate fire wall for use of such information (see below). 

Unlike current systems in which separate paper charts are kept by each physician a patient sees for treatment, the Epic electronic system will ensure that every physician a patient sees will have access to their complete medical history -- from allergies and current medications, to their latest MRI scan. Using secure access, each file can be seen by a UHealth physician who comes in contact with that patient – from University of Miami Hospital, to Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Deerfield Beach, to the Naples office of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

The majority of the Epic system will be installed over the next five to six years. Epic was chosen with the input of UHealth doctors, nurses, technicians and other technology leaders. Those consulting physicians will continue to provide input as we begin phase one of the installation in the Emergency Room of UMH. Patients will begin to see the new system in spring of 2010. 

Epic applications will improve communication between UHealth physicians and with doctors outside the health system. As our referral base continues to grow, with Epic a UHealth physician will be able to easily share a patient’s course of treatment with their referring physician in the community using secure access. This feature will keep all physicians involved in a patient’s care up-to-date on their treatment, while also extending UHealth’s reach with community physicians.

One outstanding feature will be integrating our research with our clinical care. Patients who might be potential candidates for a UHealth clinical trial will be automatically flagged for a physician’s review. This will further enhance our unique ability as an academic medical center to bring groundbreaking research to our patients. Physicians can also track trends among their own patients by inputting distinct criteria, and requesting an analysis of that data.

A web portal called MyChart will enable patients to update their own personal information, communicate with physicians, access test results, schedule appointments and even pay bills online. This will create a more streamlined process for patient communication and access to their health data. Importantly, we are working on methods to share information between the Cerner System of Jackson Memorial Hospital and UM’s Epic system, such that patient information can be reached and shared campuswide.

Implementing an enterprise solution for clinical and revenue cycle systems allows UHealth to take the next step as a world-class medical center. As the nation moves toward a common platform of recording information on all patients, we are keeping step with that progress. I am confident that as we build on each foundation of this strategic system, you will find our ability to streamline processes and increase communication to be enhanced. Most importantly, it will enable each of us to provide improved care to our most important asset -- the patients of UHealth.

Sincerely,

Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.                                                        
Dean, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine           
Chief Executive Officer, UHealth – University of Miami Health System