Is your healthcare organization using Epic to its full capacity? While many hospitals and health systems turn to Epic for their electronic health record system (EHR), a gap occurs between implementation and adoption—which means many organizations are investing heavily into Epic without achieving a true return on investment. However, Epic’s Gold Stars program provides a roadmap that can help healthcare organizations bridge this gap—and maximize their investment—so they can focus on improving patient outcomes, increasing productivity, and decreasing overall costs.
Why Do Epic Gold Stars Matter?
Epic’s Gold Stars program is a 10-level program to help healthcare organizations understand the usage of their EHR system. Designed to measure the implementation and adoption of Epic, each Gold Star level represents an organization’s use of key features as well as adherence to best practices across the following specific focus and areas, which are each scored out of ten:
Focuses:
- Physician Productivity & Joy of Use
- Operating Margin Success
- Population Health Management
- Patient Engagement & Self-Help
- Value from Data
- Nursing Productivity
- Mobile
- Community & Affiliations
- Patient Access
- Quality and Safety
- Research
Areas:
- Enterprise
- Ambulatory Care
- Acute Care
- Emergency Department
- Surgery
- Revenue Cycle
- Scheduling, Registration & ADT
- Beyond the Walls
- Cogito & Healthy Planet
- Specialties & Ancillaries
- MyChart
To reach a Gold Stars level 10, you must hit an item threshold of 95%, for level 9 a threshold of 90%, etc. Tiers 1-4 are core Epic components and functionality, tiers 5-7 represent optimized use of Epic, and tiers 8-10 represent leading practices in EMR use. Only 1% of health systems achieve level 10.
Not only do Gold Stars help organizations understand how well their Epic systems have been implemented, but they also play an essential role in adoption. Your organization’s Gold Star level provides a snapshot of how effectively the system is being used today, as well as recommendations on how to continually improve over time. As a result, striving for the next Gold Star level is a pathway to drive key performance metrics, allowing organizations to reduce administrative burdens, lower costs, improve clinician satisfaction, and improve patient care—all while maximizing ROI.
As healthcare organizations achieve a higher Gold Star level, they can also participate in Epic’s Honor Roll Good Maintenance Grant Program, which rewards eligible organizations with a financial grant for using and implementing Epic’s EHR system according to their recommendations and best practices. Translation? Organizations dedicated to improving their Epic usage can achieve better outcomes and unlock additional cost savings over time.
Common Barriers to Achieving Epic Gold Stars
While there are countless benefits to pursuing Epic Gold Stars, there are also several obstacles that keep hospitals and health systems from continuing to improve their usage of Epic’s EHR system. These can include:
- Resistance to change. One of the most common obstacles to increasing adoption is the view that change is disruptive. While exciting to some people, new technology can seem like a burden to others—especially if they already have an ‘ideal’ workflow. This can be especially true for providers focused on providing patient care who may not know the available features and how to benefit from them.
- Lack of executive buy-in. Executive buy-in is a critical factor in successful change management. Not only does it play a role in reducing other barriers to adoption, like those listed below, but a lack of executive buy-in can also make employees feel like usage isn’t a priority—which makes achieving ROI difficult.
- Resource constraints. Whether your organization is switching to Epic for the first time or simply optimizing existing systems, these projects can be incredibly costly. From overtaxed IT teams to undertrained staff members, resource constraints present a serious obstacle to adoption for many organizations.
- Insufficient training and support. While healthcare IT teams are often responsible for implementing, maintaining, and optimizing existing systems, the added burden of training and supporting operations staff members to actually use them can sometimes fall by the wayside.
7 Ways Hospitals and Health Systems Can Leverage Gold Stars to Drive Operational Excellence
When it comes to achieving long-term value from Epic, it’s important to remember that results require intentionality. Implementation is the first step in this journey, but driving adoption—and adherence to best practices—is an essential part of maximizing your investment. For healthcare organizations looking to achieve a higher Gold Star level, here are a few key strategies to keep in mind:
1. Assess the current system.
Healthcare organizations need to develop a clear understanding of their existing systems—and how they’re being utilized—before diving into any changes. The Executive Packet provided by Epic is an excellent resource for starting this assessment, as it contains multiple reports highlighting how Epic’s technology and automation are currently being used within your organization, as well as specific opportunities for improvement.
2. Identify key metrics for improvement.
Once you develop a baseline, it’s time to decide which metrics your organization will focus on to reach the next Gold Star level. While the Executive Packet includes focused opportunities for immediate growth—including Fast Lane items that can be configured in a week or less—it also outlines specific opportunities for improvement, like increasing turnaround time for chart completion or improving patient portal engagement, that can help you identify which areas will provide the greatest positive impact on your organization’s performance.
3. Create a plan.
Making the most of your EHR investment is a long-term initiative that continues well after go-live. It’s not enough for healthcare organizations to communicate what they’re doing and why they’re doing it—establishing a clear strategy for how the organization will improve Epic usage is key. It’s not enough to focus solely on the technology; your organization must blend technology, process, and people to produce results.
4. Invest in training & support.
Overcoming obstacles to adoption isn’t easy. For organizations looking to solve this problem, internal teams aren’t always the answer, as they’re often faced with resource constraints, technical demands, and day-to-day responsibilities. Instead, it can be beneficial to work with a trusted partner who can focus solely on driving adoption and delivering value. Even post-go-live, as Epic evolves it’s important to continuously train your staff and consider role-based training as an option to maximize your return on investment.
5. Focus on sustainable improvement.
Failing to use Epic’s capabilities fully is a costly mistake, but rushing into change can be equally risky. While continuous improvement can be expensive, the Gold Stars program provides a clear roadmap for ongoing advancement. Not only does this help organizations make the most of their existing Epic systems, but—done correctly—it’s also a sustainable path to creating a competitive advantage, delivering cost savings, and driving clinical outcomes for years to come.
Further, workflow customization, when appropriate, aligns the Epic system more closely with an organization’s specific needs. While sticking closely to Foundation System workflows is generally recommended, selectively tailoring workflows can improve efficiency, provided it is done thoughtfully.
The Bottom Line
As more hospitals and health systems turn to Epic for their EHR needs, it’s important to remember that there’s a difference between implementing a system and using it to its full potential. Fortunately, Epic’s Gold Stars Program is a fantastic way for healthcare organizations to ensure they’re getting the most out of their EHR investment—and a path to remedy the situation if they aren’t.
If you want to learn more about the Epic Gold Star Program, contact us today to schedule a free review of your healthcare organization’s current Gold Star level. We’ll assess your current report, share our findings, and present a roadmap for how you can maximize your Epic investment—and how Healthcare IT Leaders can help.