Long overdue (and rare) interview and discussion with Judy Faulkner, #EpicSystems CEO by @CBSSunday ! I thought the piece was fair regards to 'who is Epic' and highlighting key tenets (good/bad/indifferent) of the company culture & evolution over 40 yrs. cbsn.ws/32vm9MJ
2/ Some will call it a 'puff piece' but I'll call it a 'darn good start'! As a long time Epic client, user of the software, and user experience advisor at their annual #UGM I've only seen rapid development of solutions that we have asked for to meet patient, regulatory, payor
3/ or caregiver needs. Most Epic clients know that when you purchase the software, Epic require thatb you MUST hire and train a certain # of FTEs/consultants to maintain the software (or risk to pts go way up). Epic discounts the software if certain thresholds are met.
4/ Also when new versions are pushed out to clients there isn't typically an 'upcharge' or hidden costs for the new stuff. Honestly, I've only worked at Epic client sites as a doc, physician implementation & optimization expert; therefore I was not fully aware of how 'spoiled'
5/clients are regarding access to the Epic code, smart resources in their R&D departments, easy access to users meetings, feedback sessions, development previews, etc. It wasn't until vendors beganb to pitch innovative tech ideas to me in order to present to my company
6/ for consideration as an 'add on' to the current Epic enterprise suite of apps. It then became obvious that these smaller companies had an idea that made sense and fixed a single workflow, however, didn't fit into the whole patient's continuum of care. Also Epic's clients
7/ had already asked Epic to build the feature or functionality years before. That's when I realized that 'we were customers' of Epic! We paid premium dollars and were sold a 'relationship' with Epic. As I reflect back over my 17 years (4 different clients as an FTE), I now
8/understand why this level of focus on THE CLIENTS has been unapologetic by Epic. Like all businesses, the clients/customers are your lifeblood and allow a company to learn, grow and improve. Epic software allowed us to 'go crazy' ie custom code, share note templates w other
10/none existed and we were all treading new and foreign ground. While our local hospital CEOs & business units were competing for patients, physician groups & referrals; we (physician techies from 2003-2015) were quietly joining webinars with 'competing' groups in order to
11/learn this new world together. No time to hide innovations as we only cared about patient care and our colleagues use of the software more efficiently. Epic was typically always assisting us in these collaboration sessions whenever we asked for there help, as many of our
12/healthcare systems didn't have the organizational expertise to pull 14 organizations together to compare how we each approached the local build for say 'the 2 midnight rule' admission order, 'Sepsis alerting', etc. Gartner, UpToDate, KLAS, AMDIS, AMIA, etc just didn't get
13/ to that level of granularity...nor could individual clients. Epic and ONLY Epic (at no charge or additional costs) would then change their business model to supply venues such as this. The vendors had no clue this level of collaboration was going on and would be perplexed
14/ when Epic clients were not engaging them the way Cerner, Meditech, Allscripts, Athena, etc were. Mainly it's because we knew that 1) our company wasn't buying anymore software without a hard ROI 2) Epic's existing 'lego blocks' of code could likely get us 80% there OR 3) We
15/ collectively have prioritized it as a 'must have with the next version' (or retro-fit) and Epic assured us that it was on their R&D Top 5-10.
16/ So in summary, sure Epic keeps their R&D close to the clients only. Yes, they still at times act like they are a 'small start-up' on Tokay St in Madison, WI. Yes, they are hyperfocused on customer-only feedback and do not play well with Wall Street or Silicone Valley.
17/*Maybe* they should partner more with other tech, research, insurance, big pharma, etc to move/share/analyze patient data in order to somehow strategically help their customers increase quality, decrease costs, and provide equitable care #TripleAim ! Maybe I'm a bit low trust
18/in our current 'do whatever it takes to show shareholders we're profitable this quarter'-environment; however, it's as simple as finding the right partner that shares your mission and vision then the market will drive the best product. More energy should really go into
19/fixing the root cause of all the disparate silos that makes up our current US Healthcare system - drug patents/pricing, physician shortages, premium insurance tied to job, caregivers state licenses vs federal licensure, telehealth lack of reimbursement, etc.
20/As you can tell, I'm a bit biased, however everything written above regarding Epic is #facts (please correct if I mistated). Related to Healthcare Reform to fix those issues in #18-19, there are really smart folks working on portions of it at the local, state and federal
21/levels. I know we'll get there, as long as we continue to PUT THE PATIENT FIRST (even though docs are burning out due to our current HC system misaligned incentives that seem to put 'docs against pts' #notcool ! Epic is just one piece of this Gordian knot that may be a
22/nice and easy target given their market share and lack of effective high dollar PR/Marketing/Advocacy firms like others - Coke, BP/Shell, Altria, Boeing, etc. So, I'm hoping this is the first of many PR pieces that show the world what Epic already brings to the table! /Fin
Disclaimer: Read my bio and click around to better understand any biases that I'm likely bringing to to this thread. We all have them. This just #MyTruth as it relates to my area of expertise. 😊
I'll prob ignore anonymous posts (I can never win ;-). DM me if needed.
I'll prob ignore anonymous posts (I can never win ;-). DM me if needed.
