A non-profit healthcare system has Epic plans to scale and grow its clinical capabilities – backed by Kyndryl and AWS.
Kyndryl and Care New England (CNE), a nonprofit healthcare system in Rhode Island, are collaborating to consolidate multiple electronic medical record (EMR) systems to one end-to-end system with Epic – a leading provider of EMRs.
Kyndryl will lead the healthcare system’s transition to one single instance of Epic. The goal of this program is to improve productivity and enable more coordinated and efficient patient care.
“Last year, we pledged to stay independent as part of our broader goal to remain Rhode Island’s place for foundational and specialty care with hospitals such as Women and Infants, Kent and Butler,” said Michael Wagner, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, CNE.
“Improving our technical posture is a key step to bringing us to a place of growth, and Kyndryl is the perfect partner to work with us on this journey.”
As part of this collaboration, CNE will transition its IT and applications environment to Kyndryl – freeing up valuable time for its staff to focus on providing patient care.
CNE will also leverage Kyndryl’s strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to migrate critical workloads, including its EMR system, onto the AWS cloud.
This migration will reduce operational costs, while also providing CNE with access to new cloud-enabled technologies like automation that help strengthen the health system’s data security posture and support adherence to regulatory compliance requirements.
These enhancements will transform how CNE manages and harnesses its clinical and operational data to better inform clinicians and the health system’s leadership.
The consolidation effort and cloud migration will also help drive an expansion in service capabilities across the healthcare system. As a result, patients will find it easier to access care and providers can better collaborate with other healthcare networks.
“Our teams have a deep understanding of Care New England’s biggest challenges and what’s required to overcome them,” said Amy Salcido, President, Kyndryl US. “Because at the end of the day, the goal isn’t to solve a technical issue. We’re striving to transform how healthcare is delivered – and IT is the enabler to get there.”
Allyson Fryhoff, Managing Director, Nonprofits and Nonprofit Healthcare, AWS, said: “We are committed to helping healthcare organizations innovate and incorporate technology that will reduce administrative burdens and improve the caregiver and patient experience.:
CNE employees will join Kyndryl’s team to continue providing technical services.
While CNE is recognized a leader in healthcare quality and health services, this move allows the healthcare system to focus on patient care and its academic mission, while also providing IT team members a vehicle to advance in their careers in a way that was not previously available within a healthcare system.
Kyndryl will also help CNE redirect resources into higher yield investments by removing legacy systems, redundant applications and technical debt.
CNE will join the 500 global customers currently operational on Kyndryl Bridge and will leverage the expertise of Kyndryl Consult, Kyndryl Vital and Kyndryl’s Clinical Experience Team to identify new ways to improve the patient and caregiver experience.
We asked Dr Wagner for more on the difference the transition would make:
- From a provider perspective, what are the medium-to-long-term advantages for CNE in transitioning its EHR system (Epic) to the Cloud?
This business solution allows CNE to advance its IT capabilities in a cost-effective way so we can continue to deliver on our mission of providing world-class foundational healthcare to the people we serve in our communities. By partnering with Kyndryl, CNE providers gain access to technology best practices, resources and scale. In the world of healthcare, as with most things, the world is highly digital and relies on near-immediate and seamless communication that we have come to expect throughout our daily lives. CNE looks forward to leveraging Kyndryl’s experience to enable CNE to eventually move closer to fully implementing a single instance of Epic and other key technology applications across the organization. These seamless and focused systems allow for clinicians to have all the information they might need, right at their fingertips. That said, there are several things that need to be in place before CNE can move to a single instance of Epic. Kyndryl will help CNE get those prerequisites accomplished while helping us evolve IT service delivery. The Cloud allows for increased scalability and flexibility as the Cloud can easily accommodate growing data storage needs and adapt to changing healthcare requirements. It enhances data accessibility and collaboration among healthcare providers – enabling seamless sharing of patient information across different departments and facilities. Lastly, moving to the Cloud can lead to cost savings in terms of infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, as the responsibility for hardware and software updates lies with the Cloud service provider. Our experience at another organization which put Epic in the cloud first, was nothing less than stellar. The system was never down for any extended period of time and when it did go down for minutes at a time, it would rebuild itself and take care of any of those problems on its own. It always runs!
- How did Kyndryl work with your operational teams to communicate the technical advantages of this transition?
CNE and Kyndryl implemented a thoughtful transition plan focused on supporting CNE teams and maintaining stability and service levels for its business as it moved into its new operating model. over the next few months. The technical advantages were clear from the beginning, with world-class solutions and the capabilities to take CNE, in the coming months, over to a single instance of Epic. With a total, stage-wise communication plan in place, the first phase includes minimal disruption to day-to-day operations, since the folks mainly remain accountable to the same items in the near term. In addition to the technical advantages, the benefit to our team of this partnership is that it opens doors for CNE IT team members to expand their skills and experiences as part of a global network, offered by Kyndryl.
- How will CNE’s patients and caregivers benefit from this transition?
Not only does Kyndryl offer deep expertise and thought leadership in the areas of information security and technology services, but they are also like-minded in their commitment to keeping their focus on what’s most important: our patients, caregivers and employees. This strategic partnership not only makes good business sense, but it’s also in the best interest of all key stakeholders, including patients and caregivers, as it improves the way they can communicate and understand each other. This is top priority as we continue our CNE journey so we’re focusing on streamlining applications and Epic services to make communication as easy and seamless as possible. Healthcare is rapidly changing and innovation in the digital realm is essential for CNE to adapt to this changing landscape while remaining relentlessly focusing on the individual needs of each of our patients.
