Health IT, Pharma

CVS-Epic deal will add EHRs to MinuteClinic in run-up to major expansion

Just as CVS Caremark is poised to expand its MinuteClinic system, it’s inked a deal […]

Just as CVS Caremark is poised to expand its MinuteClinic system, it’s inked a deal with Epic Systems to provide ambulatory electronic health record support for the clinics. The EHR/EMR  giant will replace the homegrown EHR system CVS developed, according to a report by Modern Healthcare. It reflects a growing maturity of the MinuteClinic concept as it moves beyond flu vaccinations and blood pressure readings to provide more non-emergency care, and it is one of the healthcare industry trends to reduce healthcare costs by providing alternatives to hospitals or the doctor’s office.

The clinics are equipped to provide vaccines, do some lab tests and provide several non-emergency care services. In an interview with Modern Healthcare, Dr. Nancy Gagliano, MinuteClinic’s chief medical officer, said Epic’s support of national interoperability standards, analytics and customization helped cement the deal. CVS currently has more than 800 MinuteClinic locations and expects that to almost double to 1,500 locations “in the near future.”

“We need a robust IT system, an EHR that will effectively interconnect with our affiliated partners,” as well as health information exchanges, [Gagliano] said. “We’re going to have over 1,500 clinics in just over a couple of years. We see 4 million patients a year and we’ll see 10 million patients a year in the near future. So we need a big company to support the volume that we’ll have.”

It will be a while before people should expect to see Epic’s EHRs in action. It will take about 12 months to train staff and set up “specialized interfaces” and another year to roll out the EHR network across MinuteClinic locations.

A couple of components of the EHR network CVS is installing are Care Everywhere, which works as a health information exchange between Epic customers; and Care Elsewhere, which makes interoperability possible between Epic systems and other non-Epic providers or health information exchanges.

Epic’s market dominance has earned it a fair few critics, but its widespread use is one reason why it gets picked.

Still, it’s an interesting move, considering CVS just joined the CommonWell Health Alliance — a group of health IT companies to improve the way healthcare data is shared. At the time of its launch last year, the alliance was perceived, to some extent, as an attempt to better compete with Epic (a perspective encouraged by Epic’s founder Judy Faulker ). Or at least provide a nice marketing story about collaboration.

In the announcement last week at HIMSS, a statement said that CVS is joining CommonWell as a contributing member, and would work with RelayHealth to embed these services natively into its pharmacy system.” It will also help providers securely access prescription information to improve patient safety. “Through the Alliance, pharmacies and health care providers will be able to better connect with the broader health ecosystem.”

Shares0
Shares0