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12 The List Issue 8 Epic EHR Implementations With the Biggest Price Tags in 2015 By Akanksha Jayanthi I nvestments in EHR systems are undoubtedly costly, but some implementations appear to carry more costs than others. Implementation costs vary system to system and hospital to hospital based on the types of addi- tional features and modules an organization se- lects. And, according to a Politico report, some vendors charge for additional service fees while others don't. e Politico report indicates for Ep- ic's 2014 edition soware, the Verona, Wis.-based EHR vendor charges a soware licensing fee, implementation costs and annual maintenance costs while OpenVistA — developed by Carlsbad, Calif.-based Medsphere — does not, for example. John Halamka, MD, CIO of Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said in the Polit- ico report that hospitals selecting Epic's platform are not just buying a product — they are buying a process. BIDMC does not operate on Epic's EHR; rather, the hospital earlier this year forged a part- nership with athenahealth, which included using the Watertown, Mass.-based vendor's product. "Epic is selling a methodology; oen a lot of man- ual processes or heterogeneity and standardizing the work," Dr. Halamka told Politico. "It's not that they're buying expensive soware, they're buying a lot of soware." No matter where the prices come from, the cost of Epic installations are significant. Here are eight of the most costly Epic implementations reported within the past six months. ese are working numbers, with some systems having allotted the indicated amounts to implementation projects and others that have already completed installations. 1. Partners HealthCare: $1.2 billion Boston-based Partners HealthCare is one of more recent implementations, going live the first week of June to the tune of $1.2 billion. is is the health system's biggest investment to date. e implementation process took approximately three years, and in that time, the initial price tag of $600 million doubled. 2. Lehigh Valley Health Network: $200 million LVHN started its switch to Epic's platform in Feb- ruary, but the full transition will take between four and six years. Harry Lukens, CIO of the Allentown, Pa.-based system, told e Morning Call the total investment dedicated to the installa- tion includes soware, hardware, data conversion and additional personnel. 3. Mayo Clinic: "Hundreds of millions" In January, Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clin- ic announced it selected Epic's EHR and revenue cycle management platforms and planned to drop its Cerner and GE Healthcare contracts to do so. e value of the contract was not disclosed by the health system or the vendor, but stock analysts told e Kansas City Star it is worth "hundreds of millions of dollars over several years." Additionally, the headline of the Star re- port reads "Cerner loses Mayo Clinic contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Epic," indicating a ballpark estimate of the new con- tract's value. 4. Lahey Hospital & Medical Center: $160 mil- lion On March 28, the Burlington, Mass.-based hospi- tal completed its two-year implementation of Ep- ic's EHR system. Two months later, Lahey Health said it was laying off 130 people at three hospitals to close the budget gap. In the six months ended March 31, the health system had lost $21 million, partly due to preparatory EHR implementation costs. 5. Lifespan: $100 million Providence, R.I.-based Lifespan announced plans to implement Epic's EHR in March 2013, and the health system went live April. Lifespan ini- tially projected the implementation to cost $90 million, but in a Rhode Island Public Radio re- port, John Murphy, MD, executive vice president of physician services, alluded to a total closer to $100 million. 6. Erlanger Health System: $97 million Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health Sys- tem signed a contract with Epic in May nearing $100 million. e health system will invest $91 million in capital expenses, but operating expens- es will bring the total to $97 million over the next 10 years. Erlanger was deciding between Epic and Cerner's platform and ultimately chose Epic be- cause the bid was less expensive, CFO Britt Tabor told Times Free Press. 7. Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare: $54 million In January, Glendale, Wis.-based Wheaton Fran- ciscan Healthcare announced plans to implement Epic across its hospitals. e system's affiliated medical group and physician offices have been using Epic's EHR since September 2012, but pro- viders across the system can only view patient re- cords and not input information. e implemen- tation will create one central EHR platform across the system. Go-lives will begin January 2016. e system expects a return on investment aer four years of using the platform. 8. Saint Francis Medical Center: $43 million e hospital in Dexter, Mo., contracted with Epic in February and expects to go live in July 2016. Saint Francis plans to connect and exchange re- cords with other hospitals in the St. Louis area also using Epic's system, including SSM Health and Mercy Health. Worth noting A handful of other hospitals and health systems reported signing contracts with Epic this year but did not disclose the costs of the IT projects. Some of these organizations include Arling- ton Heights, Ill.-based Northwest Community Healthcare, SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital- Audrain in Mexico, Mo., Oklahoma State Uni- versity Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa, San Diego-based Scripps Health and St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare. n Becker 's Hospital Review CEO ROUNDTABLE + CFO/CIO ROUNDTABLE Register at www.beckershospitalreview.com 44 CEO Speakers • 33 CFO & CIO Speakers • 99 Hospital System Speakers KEYNOTES BY CLEVELAND CLINIC CEO DR. TOBY COSGROVE & ASCENSION CEO DR. ANTHONY TERSIGNI