The EPIC Electronic Health Records system at Allegheny Health Network offers the region's first fully integrated health records system across all provider sites, vastly enhancing the quality and efficiency of the care provided by Allegheny Health Network providers while reducing costs.
Enterprise invests in the future of health care
Highmark Health recognizes that today's system of health care financing and delivery is not good enough for our customers or the communities that we serve, and is not sustainable in the long term. The Highmark Health organization has committed to transforming the way that health care is financed and delivered, with the goal of becoming a model for the future.
In 2013, Highmark Health took the first steps toward transformation by bringing together a health care system and a health plan. In 2014, we built on that relationship, to push boundaries, to find ways to "do it differently."
Transformation is taking place across the Highmark Health organization. A transformation office was created in 2014 to develop a clear strategy and work with our businesses to drive change. We have 35,000 people across the organization that are consistently, every day, thinking about how to do their jobs differently. And our companies are making investments in people and infrastructure to expand clinical capabilities and improve the customer experience.
In 2014, Highmark Health companies committed more than $500 million to capital investments. A significant part of those investments were made in facilities, technology and capabilities at Allegheny Health Network. The state-of-the-art Wexford Health + Wellness Pavilion opened its doors in October, followed by the opening of new centers for Oncology and Women's Health at Jefferson Hospital, among many other new facilities designed to treat patients in their communities.
Technology is critical to the future success of health care and was a focus area for investment by Highmark Health in 2014. Through the Emergency Medical Services Care Connect Pilot, we invested in training for EMS teams to enable them to provide in-home care and prevent unnecessary — and costly — visits to emergency rooms. Installation of the EPIC Electronic Health Records at Allegheny Health Network, which is well underway across the enterprise and scheduled for completion system-wide in 2016, will offer the region's first fully integrated health records system across all provider sites, vastly enhancing the quality and efficiency of the care we provide while reducing costs. The system is now operating at the Wexford Health + Wellness Pavilion and at several dozen physician practices and is scheduled to go live at Forbes Hospital in April 2015.
Highmark Health recognizes that the future of health care depends on educating and retaining a new generation of well-trained physicians. The 2014 opening of a new clinical campus at Forbes Hospital in conjunction with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) expands on a partnership begun in 2013 when Highmark Inc. committed $500,000 in scholarships to aid LECOM students in completing their four years of medical school with the goal of increasing the supply and improving the retention of physicians in rural areas of Pennsylvania.
These targeted investments by Highmark Health and its companies support the enterprise's mission to build a health care system that changes the way health care is delivered and financed in America and our vision to improve the total health care experience of our customers and the communities we serve.
