Mohawk Valley Health System has launched a new, system-wide electronic health record called Epic.

Epic puts MVHS's two hospitals and physician practices on the same platform for the first time.

MVHS previously used five different systems in its facilities.

St. Joseph's Hospital and Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse and Bassett Healthcare Network in Cooperstown are also part of the Epic community.

All organizations using Epic can interoperate, which means they can easily exchange patient data for improved patient care.

“This is truly an ‘Epic’ moment for our health system,” said Darlene Stromstad, MVHS president/CEO. “There are many benefits of Epic, most notably improved patient safety and quality and improved efficiency of care. We are now able, in real-time, to monitor patient activity by unit and by patient, decreasing the opportunity for delays in patient care. It gives us the ability to share real-time patient information throughout the health system and with our peers to better coordinate our patients’ care. That results in less testing because we can share up-to-date results. And, for those patients who wish to sign up with our patient portal, it provides them direct access to their own health record. Moving to Epic is a significant step toward transforming healthcare in our region.”

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