Case Study
UST’s managed services enable Atlantic Health to streamline Epic ambulatory support and reduce costs by 12%
OUR CLIENT
Atlantic Health, based in Morristown, NJ, operates eight award-winning hospitals and is lauded for its cardiology, orthopedics, cancer, and oncology research programs, among others. Atlantic Health employs approximately 25,000 people and serves more than 7.5 million people across New Jersey with a wide array of services, including urgent care, telehealth, and visiting nursing.
THE CHALLENGE
Unlocking efficiency of in-house Epic support team
Atlantic Health relies on Epic Systems’ electronic health record (EHR) software as its central platform for storing and accessing patient information. The healthcare provider relied on an internal team to manage the application across its vast organization. However, the team struggled to function efficiently to accomplish its wide range of responsibilities. For example, the team was spending most of its time managing day-to-day support tickets, leaving little time to roll out new modules and clinical workflows that could help care teams improve health outcomes and enhance patient experiences. The company had also acquired several new hospitals that needed to be onboarded to the company’s Epic system. The team has little bandwidth to accomplish this critical project.
Atlantic Health required guidance and a governance model to enable its in-house Epic support team to operate more efficiently and better understand its performance metrics, allowing the team to focus on strategic initiatives.
THE TRANSFORMATION
Implemented Epic managed services, EHR governance, and reporting infrastructure
UST deployed a managed services model to complement Atlantic Health’s in-house Epic support team. The engagement provided a team of nine highly skilled technology experts to manage Level 3 (L3), Level 4 (L4), and Level 5 (L5) support tickets. The engagement also included implementing a rigorous governance model and an operational reporting structure, including a pay-for-performance KPI and SLA framework. Combined, this approach provided valuable insights, reduced overall support costs, and allowed the in-house Atlantic Health team to focus on higher-priority Epic support issues while having confidence that all customers were supported in a quality manner.
THE IMPACT
SLA-driven IT support delivers 12% cost improvement and Epic EHR optimizations
With the UST managed services team productive on day 1, this successful engagement very quickly resulted in these business benefits within Atlantic Health’s ambulatory division:
- 12% reduction in operating costs—through UST’s managed services support team and more efficient governance model
- >90% SLA adherence for P3-P5 support tickets—allowing the in-house Epic support team to focus on critical life and death support issues and more strategic projects that enhance patient care
- 80%+ ticket triage rate—well above the ticket-handling goal of 250 Epic support tickets per month, showcasing the value of the managed services engagement
- 80%-100% consistent work queue clearance—for resolved errors across multiple workstreams, highlighting the efficiency gains of the Epic managed services support team
Looking ahead with AI
Encouraged by early success, Atlantic Health is expanding UST’s managed services model to other divisions. The organization is also preparing to use its innovation credits to explore artificial intelligence enhancements for Epic, aiming to streamline operations, improve care quality, and further reduce costs. UST is leading workshops to identify AI-driven opportunities that can automate repetitive tasks, optimize clinical workflows, and elevate the EHR experience for both providers and patients.
If your company wants to achieve Epic service delivery excellence with managed IT services, UST can help. Learn more here.