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Colin Ward (Host):  Management guru Stephen Covey once said, “The key is not in spending time, but in investing in it.” Today on the Hero podcast, we’ll learn more about how the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health System has used our time wisely to prepare for our upcoming Epic conversion. Good afternoon, I’m Colin Ward, Vice President of Population Health. And joining me today from the University of Maryland Information Services and Technology Team are Allison Trumpy, the Director of Foundations and Jeff Ostrow, the Director of Health Informatics Training and Communications. Allison and Jeff, welcome.

Allison Trumpy (Guest):  Hello.

Jeff Ostrow (Guest):  Morning.

Host:  So, let’s start with your titles. So, when we think of foundations, typically we think of our philanthropy and how we are raising money to support our mission. What does the Director of Foundations for Information Services typically do?

Allison:  So, my team basically supports the system admin type functions of Epic of the Portfolio Suite.

Host:  Okay and how about you Jeff, you’ve got a mouthful of words there in your title.

Jeff:  Yeah Colin. So, I’m responsible for all the Portfolio Epic training throughout the University of Maryland Medical System.

Host:  Great. Okay so here at Upper Chesapeake, the excitement is building as we get closer and closer to the Epic conversion. And so just with a few months to go, we want to have you guys give us an update on where we are with our preparations. So, Jeff, why don’t we start with you. I think it’s fairly common knowledge that the key to any successful implementation is how you do on your training. So, give us a sense of where we are on our training timeline.

Jeff:  Yup. So, yes, training is really important for all users. Currently the credentialed trainers, the folks who will be training our users are in training now and they will be finishing their training the beginning of January.

Host:  So, these are teammates here at Upper Chesapeake who have been sort of hand selected to be the leads in this process.

Jeff:  That’s correct. And we’ve supplemented those roles that we could not find internally with consultants that have done credentialed training in the past. Our training will start on January 13^th with super user training. And then that will continue with end user training through about a week before we go live.

Host:  So, that sort of just in time. You want some of these folks to have their end user training within a week or so of actually going live.

Jeff:  Correct. You don’t want to start training too soon or otherwise folks will forget what they’ve learned in class.

Host:  Got you. Okay. So, are you guys satisfied with where we are in terms of the sign ups? Do we have everybody registered for classes here? It’s a tough effort to get about 3000 people all scheduled and trained.

Jeff:  Yeah it sure is. We are at about 60% which is about where we want to be at this point in time. The managers are continuing to enroll their users or their employees in their course sessions. It’s really important that user understand that they should check their transcripts in UMSU to ensure what classes they are attending and that they understand that if classrooms change or if schedules change that they will receive emails outlining those changes.

Host:  And if they haven’t yet – if they are in the 40% that hasn’t signed up yet, they should go through their manager to make sure that they are getting signed up is that right?

Jeff:  That’s correct. Managers will be signing all users up into their classroom sessions.

Host:  Okay. Great. Now we’re one of the last few University of Maryland System hospitals to go onto the Epic platform. You’ve done a lot of these kinds of implementations before, so, have you learned anything from previous implementations that are helpful in terms of how we’ve laid out the training for Upper Chesapeake?

Jeff:  We sure have. And we’re utilizing what we’ve learned in those previous experiences here at Upper Chesapeake and I feel that this is one of the best Epic programs that we’ve implemented for University of Maryland. We are bringing in additional subject matter experts to help with the roll out of training which we did not have before. And I think the other advantage is that we have other University of Maryland Medical System folks who have gone live in the past assisting with this go live so we have a lot of really good experienced individuals.

Host:  Now some of those organizations had previously gone from a paper based medical record to the Epic system in electronic form. And we’ve been on ambulatory systems and a hospital based system previously. Will that make it easier for us to convert over to Epic to go from an electronic system to an electronic system?

Jeff:  I think there are several aspects that will make it easier. I think one of the challenges that folks have coming from a previous system to Epic is that they remember what they’ve done in the other system and sometimes that transition takes a little bit. But rest assured, we’re going to be providing crosswalk documents that identify what was done in the previous system and identifies what you do in Epic that correlates to that process.

Host:  Okay so if I’ve remembered it’s engrained in my head to do it this way; I do these following steps, there will be somebody there in training and go live support to help me make sure I get to the same spot.

Jeff:  Absolutely correct.

Host:  Okay, perfect. Allison, how about on the technical side now? The roll out will include both software and then the computers and monitors and other devices that connect with this software. I guess we call that hardware. So, how do you deploy all this technology within our hospitals and considering our ambulatory locations as well?

Allison:  So, we went through a process where we performed a walkthrough and we collected current state hardware, noted all of the existing hardware and also noted what future state would need to be. So, what we need to purchase to put in place for the portfolio suite.

Host:  And so, I think about as I walk out of Best Buy hemming and hawing about what kind of monitor to buy for my home computer; you’ve got thousands of devices that you’ve got to coordinate implementation across these different places. How do you do that? You’ve got so much inventory here to worry about.

Allison:  So, we created a database that actually tracks all of the hardware that we assessed during the walkthroughs and anything that were purchased even as we are deploying it. And we use that database to perform the backend, print mapping, device build, printer queue build, that sort of thing. And it’s all in preparation for a technical dress rehearsal.

Host:  Okay and what is that technical dress rehearsal? I’ve heard this term previously, but I’m not sure what it is.

Allison:  So, the technical dress rehearsal is a two week period where we come on site. The application team performs print testing in every department whether it be inpatient, ambulatory, every department that we are implementing the portfolio suite. Prior to that, we also – the desktop team will go through and make sure they have a check list and they go through to make sure the icons on the desktop that portfolio launches appropriately, and that sort of thing and the printers are functioning, the devices work, wireless is working. And the technical dress rehearsal is really focused on printing. Printing is a little challenging within the portfolio suite, so we want to make sure we have it correct, set up correctly so that at go live there are no issues with printing.

Host:  And when you say printing, you could mean a piece of paper, but you are also talking about label printing and other things like that?

Allison:  Exactly. Yes, paper reports and label printing. We want to make sure staff are not having issues with printing at go live, they can focus on the system and learning the system.

Host:  Okay and as part of that, is there anything that the team should be focused on to help you during this process? You got about two weeks or so to do this technical dress rehearsal, how can they be helpful?

Allison:  Yeah definitely. So, it’s really important that the managers let their staff know that we’re going to be on site. It will be the last two weeks of February. We will submit a schedule out for review and make sure that we have areas that we’re trying to get into to test are appropriate for that time for that area so the ORs, ambulatory suites, that sort of thing, a good time for them. But at the same time, our schedule is somewhat fluid and as we find issues, we might spend more time in one department than the other. It’s really important that the staff know we are going to be onsite and that we need to get on their computers. We’ll be using their printers that sort of thing to make sure everything works effectively. So, we’ll be a little bit in the way.

Host:  But this is kind of like how to use an analogy here, this is how an office practice would work right? So, if you’re in with a patient, and that patient requires extra time; some of the other patients in the waiting room have to wait a little bit longer and a similar process here is you go to deploy these devices, if there’s a printer issue, you may have to devote more time in that location and that’s why you’re saying it’s fluid to maybe get to that next appointment during the day.

Allison:  Exactly. Yes, and our goal is to get through all the departments in that two week period. And we try to fix everything at the department when we’re there so that we don’t have to revisit, but if we can’t, there’s a punch list that gets created basically after that and we work through that until go live.

Host:  And a punch list is?

Allison:  Anything that we couldn’t fix during technical dress rehearsal.

Host:  Okay and you have two weeks to make that happen, right?

Allison:  You got it.

Host:  Okay so, two weeks it can be done. You’d like to have more time, we’d all like to have more time; but technical dress rehearsal should end around the end of February or first of March.

Allison:  Yes.

Host:  Okay. Perfect. So, now you both have been through these kinds of system conversions before. You guys, this isn’t your first rodeo here so, and in fact, I don’t see any battle wounds or scars left over. So, tell me what piece of advice would you have for our teams as we get closer whether it be about training or the technical aspects of it that you think the team could really take to heart here.

Allison:  Sure. I think it’s really important to pay attention to your areas and make sure we have all the equipment that’s needed. The managers participated with the walkthroughs or designated person just make sure that we have everything that needs to be there. We’ll do our due diligence to make sure everything is there. But it’s really important that others have eyes on it as well. Any questions that you might have please ask. We want to make sure those are answered, and we resolve that before go live.

Host:  Okay, how about you Jeff?

Jeff:  Yeah, from a training perspective, I highly recommend that users complete their e-learning modules about two weeks prior to their classroom training. The purpose of the e-learning modules are to ensure that users have the foundational understanding of Epic so that when they get into the classroom makes that experience easier. I recommend that once they leave the classroom, that they practice. We have practice environments that they can go into on their own. We recommend managers that they give folks about a half hour once a week to practice what they learned in the class so they can retain those processes and procedures for go live. And then I also recommend that they really utilize the support that’s on site, the super users, the trainers, and the other resources that are going to be there to help them out during those first two weeks so that that experience is maximized.

Host:  Great. Do you guys think that this is fun? Is this a fun time to be part of a health system as you get ready for a conversion?

Allison:  Definitely. I think it’s a little trying time and it’s probably people are anxious, but it will be okay. We’ll get to go live. It will be a little bumpy, it always is just because it’s new. And then within a couple of days, it’ll – you’ll feel like it’s been here for a long time.

Host:  Same for you Jeff?

Jeff:  Yeah, I mean it’s going to be difficult, but it gets easier every day and I think within a couple of months people are going to really enjoy the new environment of Epic.

Host:  Perfect. Well thank you so much. Jeff Ostrow and Allison Trumpy from the University of Maryland Medical System Information Services and Technology Team. Thank you so much for the important Epic update. Once again, I’m Colin Ward and thank you for joining us on the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Hero podcast.