Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based behavioral health provider, has became the first free standing behavioral health system to implement Epic’s electronic health record (EHR), the organization’s officials attested.
The organization hopes that features of the Epic platform will allow the health system unique coordination of care both within its continuum of services as well as in partnership with other health care providers in the area. “Behavioral health is an essential component of any integrated and collaborative community of care,” Mark Eastburg, Ph.D., Pine Rest president and CEO, said in a statement.
With features such as Care Everywhere, Epic’s data exchange product, Pine Rest hopes to have the ability to receive key health information from other healthcare systems in real-time during an admission, screening, or visit. “The community’s health and well-being improves when providers can easily communicate and coordinate care,” said Eastburg. “Because other major healthcare systems in West Michigan are either on or moving toward Epic as their ‘common language,’ I’m convinced that our entire community will benefit.”
Indeed, Pine Rest shares patients with many of the regional hospitals who currently use Epic such as Metro Health – University of Michigan Health, Spectrum Health, Bronson, Sparrow Health and Lakeland Health.
Pine Rest went live with Epic on its June 20 target date and with minimal impact to patient access, according to officials. “A key consideration when planning our Epic go-live was remaining accessible to those in need of care,” said Eastburg. “Many come to us in a time of crisis, and we are extremely pleased to have successfully achieved the goal of meeting those needs with open doors.”
