Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/790284
37 CIO / HEALTH IT 10 Things to Know About Epic By Erin Dietsche E pic Systems is one of the most well- known names in the world of health IT. As the EHR supplier for hospitals around the world, Epic has established itself without go- ing public and with little marketing efforts. From its eccentric campus to its relationship with clients, here are 10 things to know about the company. 1. Judy Faulkner founded Epic in a base- ment in 1979. With 1.5 employees, the company was originally called Human Services Computing but rebranded as Epic Systems in 1983, according to Isthmus. In its early stages, Epic and the precursor to American Girl utilized the same basement in a Madison, Wis., apartment. 2. Ms. Faulkner, a programmer, initially had no intention of founding a company. But af- ter requests from clients, she chose to start a company based on the clinical data man- agement system she'd created. At a meeting during the company's early stages, a client grabbed a dictionary and looked up the defi- nition of epic: "the glorious recounting of a nation's events." e group liked the name and decided to go with it. "Like the 'Iliad' or the 'Odyssey,' our electronic health records chronicle the story of a patient's healthcare over time," Epic's website quips. 3. Ms. Faulkner serves as Epic's CEO. As of Jan. 17, 2017, Forbes valued her worth at $2.2 billion. Last year, Ms. Faulkner ranked No. 3 on Forbes' list of "America's Richest Self- Made Women" and No. 79 on Forbes' list of "Richest People in Tech." In 2015, Ms. Faulkner pledged 99 percent of her wealth to philanthropy by joining the Giving Pledge, an initiative in which some of the world's wealthiest individuals pledge to donate the majority of their assets to philanthropy. 4. Located in Verona, Wis. — approxi- mately 11 miles south of Madison — Epic's headquarters is unique. The company hired the architects who designed Disneyland to blueprint a creative campus, according to The Boston Globe. A sculpture of Humpty Dumpty sits on a wall near the entrance to the headquarters. Each section of the cam- pus has a different theme, from farming to castles to New York City's Grand Central Station. The campus also features an enor- mous slide and treehouse for meetings. Epic has even been lauded for its imagina- tive campus. In October 2016, the Amer- ican Institute of Architects gave Epic an honorable mention in its annual TAP/CCA Innovation Awards. The Epic Deep Space Auditorium — which can seat up to 11,400 and was designed by Minneapolis-based Cuningham Group — received an honor- able mention in the stellar design category. 5. Epic's campus is not only unique in its design — it's also unique in its sustainability efforts. To generate energy, Epic installed six wind turbines and 18 acres of solar panels. Its campus includes almost 350 acres of farmland that Epic lends out to farmers. For heating and cooling its buildings, Epic utilizes its thousands of miles of underground geothermal pipes.