Ron Walls and Kelly Santomas, Clinician Engagement team nursing director for Partners eCare

One patient, one record, one team, one statement.

After extensive review, planning, design and configuration, and more recently, training and readiness sessions, BWHC will make this goal a reality with the implementation of Partners eCare, which officially goes live on Saturday, May 30.

Partners eCare will integrate clinical, administrative and revenue systems across Partners HealthCare into one comprehensive system over the course of the next five years. BWHC is the first entity to fully implement Partners eCare, which is part of BWHC’s population health management strategy and will improve the way BWHC delivers care to patients across BWH, BWFH and Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center.

“Planning and preparing for Partners eCare have taken years of hard work, dedication, coordination and patience on the part of thousands of staff,” said BWHC President Betsy Nabel, MD. “From training to troubleshooting to taking on new roles as Partners eCare leaders, you have all ensured that BWHC is ready for go-live on May 30. I am so proud that BWHC will soon be able to deliver even better and more coordinated care across our system.”

O’Neil Britton, Partners eCare chief health information officer, and Betsy Nabel at Partners eCare training

BWHC staff have been integral to the design of the Partners eCare system, with hundreds attending design and validation sessions with other staff throughout Partners to discuss their workflow processes and challenges with current clinical systems. Some groups will be part of the electronic medical record for the first time when Partners eCare goes live—such as Chaplaincy, which will be known as Spiritual Care—providing a more complete record for patient care.

Once live, Partners eCare will assist physicians, nurses, health professionals, administrators and front-line staff in delivering more seamless, coordinated care across all Partners settings and providers, while enabling our patients and families to more actively engage as partners in their care. The revenue side of Partners eCare offers important benefits to our patients, with a simplified billing process that replaces multiple bills for one episode of care.

“The energy that the entire institution has exhibited as we prepare to roll out the new Epic system has been inspiring,” said Ron M. Walls, MD, BWHC executive vice president and chief operating officer. “We remain focused on its purpose—advancing the quality and safety of our care by providing a more seamless patient experience.”

On the days leading up to and after go-live, nearly 500 BWHC, Epic and Partners eCare staff will be working from a dedicated Command Center, ready to respond to any issues that may arise. Conversion work—including 9 million automated conversion items and 20,000 manual conversion items managed by 10 teams—has been ongoing for weeks. This will ensure that all patient data is readily available in Partners eCare the morning of go-live as the legacy systems are retired and assume a “view only” format—a truly remarkable feat.

Shelly Anderson, vice president of Strategy Implementation, offered words of advice for the last days leading up to and during go-live: “Use the tools we have provided, focus, be as rested as possible and stick together,” she said during the 30-day readiness session in May. “Be patient with your colleagues and help each other when you can. This isn’t simply new technology, but rather, a new way of working. Every Epic client says that once you are through the initial days, it is all worth it and you will really like the new system.”