CHEYANA FISCHER is Health First’s Chief Clinical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer. “The investment in the Epic platform will … enhance our ability to share data, streamline experience, and provide national best-practice decision support tools. All of these will provide our patients and plan members with quicker access to information they need to manage their health – and make the work of our clinicians and associates more efficient.”

Health First has announced the investment of more than $160 million as part of a two-year transformative plan to modernize and transform Brevard County’s healthcare experience for patients, health plans members, providers, and care teams.

Health First is partnering with Verona, Wisconsin-based healthcare software vendor Epic to improve the health and wellness of the communities we serve. This ambitious project underscores Health First’s mission to deliver high-quality care and services in the most consumer-friendly manner.  

“Epic’s mission is to help organizations deliver high-quality, personalized care that's easier for everyone. Health First’s implementation of Epic systems will result in easier access to medical information so our patients can take control over their healthcare experience.” said Cheyana Fischer, Health First Chief Clinical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer.

Epic is nationally recognized for helping its customers achieve high patient/customer experience and satisfaction scores, as well as better outcomes. Becker’s 2023 Hospital CFO report highlights 86 percent of Health Systems with the strongest finances now use Epic, including Geisinger, Mayo Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical System, Emory Healthcare, Duke, AdventHealth, Johns Hopkins, and Jefferson Health.

“The investment in the Epic platform will modernize Health First’s technology and improve our ability to support everyone we serve. This will enhance our ability to share data, streamline experience, and provide national best-practice decision support tools. All of these will provide our patients and plan members with quicker access to information they need to manage their health - and make the work of our clinicians and associates more efficient,” Fischer continued.

Implementation of Epic is expected to create three major benefits:

• Unifying information. There will be no more juggling between different systems. Every patient will have one comprehensive chart across our entire network, ensuring providers and care teams have all the information they need at their fingertips.
• Increasing efficiency and accuracy. Epic will streamline workflows, reduce duplication, and improve the accuracy of patient & member information.
• Enhance the experience. Patients and health plans members will enjoy more cohesive care, with their medical history seamlessly available across many departments and specialties.

According to Michael Carr, Health First’s Chief Information Officer, implementation of the Epic system will take place over a span of 24 months and is expected to be fully operational by January 2026.

“This is an ambitious vision-come-true for us and we understand that together, we’re on an ‘epic’ journey. Our Epic journey is a transformative step in how we provide service. It’s how we deliver on our value promises, making healthcare information easy and ‘delightful’ for our patients, plan members, providers, and care teams,” said Carr.

The implementation will involve over 140 different project team members who will devote an estimated 75,000 hours over the next two years. The project is, in fact, such a large and important priority that Health First has created an official project name: MISSION UNITY.