Children's Minnesota preps $175M Epic go-live after 15 years on Oracle, eClinicalWorks
Minneapolis-based Children's Minnesota is preparing for an Oct. 3 Epic go-live, a transition that was more than a decade in the making. The health system had used Oracle Health in its hospitals and eClinicalWorks in affiliated ambulatory clinics for roughly 15 years, according to Becker's Hospital Review.
The implementation represents a one-time investment of about $175 million over roughly 15 months of planning, build, and go-live preparation. Timothy Lander, MD, clinical vice president and chief of surgical services, said the decision reflected clinician expectations, referring provider preferences, and the organization's technology roadmap. He also cited recruitment as a factor, noting that current and future workforce demands influenced the move.
Children's Minnesota is working with implementation partners while keeping internal teams responsible for execution. The organization is using Epic U as its primary workforce training platform and has worked with Epic to develop pediatric-specific training content. The project involves roughly 19,000 to 20,000 build decisions, which were reviewed to identify changes with the greatest impact on clinical workflows or core business operations, resulting in 45 high- or critical-impact change topics.
The organization plans to use Epic's native AI capabilities, including ambient documentation through Chart with ART, and is not developing its own clinical AI tools. Dr. Lander said the implementation has to belong to the organization, not the technology, and should be clinician-facing to land well with users.