Last year at HIMSS17 Epic Systems founder and CEO Judy Faulkner announced the company was developing two new EHRs for hospitals that don’t need the full version of Epic. 

This year at HIMSS18 attendees can get the first look at Epic Sonnet, which Faulkner described as Epic technology with some of the features removed, and at a lower cost.

She explained that smaller hospitals might not require the full version of the Epic EHR, yet they could add all the Epic features later.

[Also: Epic's rival EHR vendors say they too are making the 'CHR' switch]

Epic will also share more at the booth about the One Virtual System Worldwide, which the EHR maker revealed at the end of January. It’s an initiative designed to help Epic users not only exchange more images and data, but also interact with each other more.

“Epic has been moving beyond the walls of traditional healthcare for several years now,” said Sean Bina, Epic Vice President of Access Applications.

[Also: Allscripts to show new Microsoft Azure-powered EHR at HIMSS18]

Bina cited Epic’s work reducing drug costs for patients by connecting to retail pharmacies and PBMs and collecting and sharing social determinants of health across the Epic community as examples.

Bina also said that Epic has expanded its MyChart portal. Patients can make payments, set up payment plans, and generate detailed estimates based on their benefits. More and more, patients use MyChart as a hub to pull together their health and wellness data with their goals, results, and care plans, Bina said.

“We are seeing an explosion in patient engagement and consumerism – not only in terms of the number of patients using MyChart, but also in terms of the depth of their use,” Bina added.

Epic will be at Booth 4432. 

Twitter: @Bernie_HITN
Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com