Judy Faulkner Shares 3 Strategies that Fuel Epic’s Success

Epic, one of the world’s most well known and profitable healthcare technology companies, adheres to a straightforward motto: do good, have fun and make money — in that order.

Guided by this code of conduct, Epic has earned quite a reputation for success since CEO Judy Faulkner founded the company in 1979. The EHR vendor currently covers more than half of acute multispecialty hospital beds in the country, and it generated nearly $5 billion in revenue last year.

During a panel this month at the Forbes Healthcare Summit in New York City, Faulkner gave some more insight about how she runs her company and why she thinks its employees enjoy coming to work.

Immersion trips

Customer feedback is the number one way that Epic identifies opportunities to build new software features and AI tools, Faulkner said.

“We do something called immersion trips. We send our staff to our customers. We have our staff show up, wander around, and they learn two things,” she remarked.

First, they learn if Epic’s software is working well. If there are pain points or inefficiencies, Epic’s staff members then figure out which changes they can make to improve the product, Faulkner explained.

Staff members also learn how to truly care about the impact of their work. Having employees witness real care delivery environments and see doctors in action makes a difference, Faulkner declared.

Innovation first, money second

When it comes to developing new AI models, Epic starts this process by exploring the use cases that its customers and staff are most interested in. During this process, the company “almost never” assigns dollar figures to the potential return on investment, Faulkner noted.

“When the first customer comes to us and says they’d like to buy it, we think, ‘Oh my goodness, it needs a name and it needs a price. We don’t have either,’” she said. “In fact, what’s interesting to me was that a number of customers have come to us and spoken with some of our senior leader staff, and they asked them what our EBITDA was — and our staff looked at each other and said, ‘What does that mean?’ I like that reaction.”

Don’t be afraid to be unconventional

There are “lots of little things” that make Epic’s company culture unique, Faulkner noted.

One example is the company’s hiring process for software developers. Epic hires by testing candidates — rather than interviewing them — because this gives the company a more accurate picture of the person’s capabilities, Faulkner explained.

“That came from my very first hiring that I did of a programmer — who thought he was a great programmer, and he told me he was, and he believed he was. I gave him his first assignment, and he said, ‘No human being could do this.’ And I said, ‘I could do it in about four hours.’ So we had a big difference,” she remarked.

After this encounter, Faulkner turned to her son, who was 15 years old at the time and was interested in software programming as a hobby. She paid him $5 to create a test that Epic could administer to software developer candidates, and the company ended up using that test in its hiring process for the next 18 years, Faulkner said.

She also pointed out that Epic’s campus in Verona, Wisconsin is “simply a fun place,” noting that the company uses the same architects as Disney World. The campus’ buildings feature a whimsical design, with nods to the Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter.

The headquarters has the opposite of a strict, professional dress code. Epic’s company manual says “When there are visitors, you must wear clothes,” Faulkner noted.

She also highlighted that the company isn’t too concerned about leadership titles.

“We don’t use titles much at all in the company. We say to people, ‘When you go out, and people ask you for your title, make it up.’ So if you ever hear one of our staff give a title, that’s their made-up title,” she said.

Photo: Benjamin Derge/Wikimedia Commons