‘MISSION UNITY’: Health First Delivers on Promise to Modernize Patient Technology  

HEALTH FIRST ANNOUNCES OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF EPIC ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD PLATFORM

Health First in April 2024 announced the investment of over $100 million as part of a two-year transformative plan to modernize and transform Brevard County’s healthcare experience for patients, plan members, providers, and care teams.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Health First today officially launched Epic’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform – modernizing the delivery of care and the way our clinicians, associates and patients access information.  

“Today we deliver on a promise made over 18 months ago to our patients and their loved ones – as well as our providers, nursing staff and associates across every level of our organization – to deliver high-quality, personalized care that’s easier for everyone to access,” said Cheyana Fischer, Health First Chief Nurse Executive.

“At Health First, we’re committed to delivering a seamless, modern healthcare experience—one that puts our patients at the center of everything we do. That’s why we’ve invested in Epic, the nation’s leading electronic health record system, to deliver a smarter, more connected way to manage health, resulting in easier access to medical information – putting our patients in control of their healthcare experience,” Fischer continued.

Beginning Monday, patients may now officially enroll in “MyChart” – a secure patient engagement application that gives customers seamless, protected, 24/7 access to their health information on their schedule – anytime, anywhere. With MyChart, patients can:

■ Schedule and manage appointments effortlessly.
■ Send secure messages to your care team.
■ View test results as soon as they’re available.
■ Request prescription refills and track medications.
■ Pay bills and manage insurance—all in one place.

WATCH: Epic’s single, integrated Comprehensive Health Record ensures that patient health information is always up to date—whether at a doctor’s office, in the hospital, or at home. It also enables secure record-sharing with other local health organizations that use Epic, so providers have a complete picture of a patient’s health history, regardless of where they receive care.

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Epic’s single, integrated Comprehensive Health Record ensures that patient health information is always up to date—whether at a doctor’s office, in the hospital, or at home. It also enables secure record-sharing with other local health organizations that use Epic, so providers have a complete picture of a patient’s health history, no matter where he or she receives care.

“As a provider, having a complete, real-time view of a patient’s health history—no matter where they’ve been seen in our network—fundamentally changes how we deliver care,” said Dr. Drew Fink, President of Health First’s Community Health Services.

“Epic empowers our clinical teams with tools that enhance communication, reduce delays, and allow us to focus more fully on what matters most: our patients. This is more than a technology upgrade—it’s a transformational shift in how we care, connect, and collaborate,” said Dr. Drew Fink, President of Health First’s Community Health Services.”

Health First in April 2024 announced the investment of over $100 million as part of a two-year transformative plan to modernize and transform Brevard County’s healthcare experience for our patients, plan members, providers, and care teams.

Partnering with Verona, WI-based healthcare software vendor Epic to improve the health and wellness of the communities we serve, this ambitious project underscores Health First’s mission to deliver high-quality care and services in the most consumer-friendly manner.

Epic is nationally recognized for helping its customers achieve high patient/customer experience and satisfaction scores, as well as better outcomes. Becker’s 2023 Hospital CFO report highlights that 86 percent of Health Systems with the strongest finances now use Epic, including Geisinger, Mayo Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical System, Emory Healthcare, Duke, AdventHealth, Johns Hopkins, and Jefferson Health.

“The energy and commitment of countless Health First associates and teams to implement and deliver the Epic platform across the organizational spectrum has truly revolutionized Health First’s technology – and improved our ability to support everyone we serve,” said Jo Powell, Epic Program Executive for Health First.

“This investment in state-of-the-art technology provides us with the ability to share data, streamline the patient and provider experience, and provide national best-practice decision support tools. All of these attributes will provide our patients with quicker access to information they need to manage their health, and make the work of our clinicians and associates more efficient,” Powell continued.

Implementation of Epic Technology is expected to create three major organizational benefits for staff:

■ Unifying information. There will be no more juggling between different systems. Every patient will have one comprehensive chart across our entire network, ensuring providers and care teams have all the information they need at their fingertips.
■ Increasing efficiency and accuracy. Epic will streamline workflows, reduce duplication, and improve the accuracy of patient & member information.
■ Enhance the experience. Patients will enjoy more cohesive care, with their medical history seamlessly available across many departments and specialties.

According to Michael Carr, Health First’s Chief Information Officer, implementation of the Epic system will take place over a span of 18 months, involving hundreds of associates, individual teams, training sessions and educational sessions for thousands of Health First’s front-end technology users.

“This has been an ambitious, once-in-a-lifetime vision-come-true for us, and together, we’ve successfully navigated this ‘epic’ journey. It’s been a transformative step in how we provide service. And it’s how we deliver on our value promises, making healthcare information easy and ‘delightful’ for our patients, plan members, providers, and care teams,” said Carr.

Carr said the implementation has involved over 140 different project team members who have devoted more than 75,000 hours over the next two years. The project has been, in fact, such a large and important priority that Health First created an official project theme: MISSION UNITY.

“After more than a year of learning, anticipating, practicing, testing, re-testing – and re-testing again, we’re finally here. I could not be prouder of the dedication, energy, faith and vision of every associate who worked tirelessly to help deliver a safer, more seamless level of care and customer experience to our community,” Carr added.

For more information about the Epic MyChart application, including instructions on how to download the App, patients and community members may visit: hf.org/MyChart.

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