Since its go-live in June, St. Peter's Health in Helena, Montana said that it has received feedback that patients are having trouble accessing their health information, scheduling appointments and processing referrals in MyChart.

WHY IT MATTERS

In June, St. Peter’s patients gained access to MyChart through an Epic Community Connect partnership with SCL Health, which is now part of Intermountain Health.

Epic's Community Connect model allows smaller healthcare organizations to use Epic EHR software without the cost and resources required for a full-scale implementation.

SCL Health has eight hospitals and more than 100 clinics throughout Colorado and Montana, according to its website.

"The St. Peter’s leadership team would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to our staff, who are working incredibly hard to learn and operate in a new system as well as reconcile information from previous databases," the organization said in an update on the transition to Epic and MyChart posted to its website July 21. 

"We’d also like to extend our appreciation to our onsite experts and partners at SCL/Intermountain Health, who are standing shoulder to shoulder with us to make this transition as efficient as possible." 

On July 19, St. Peter's posted some instructions followed by an FAQ, several of which relate to MyChart information for and communications from SCL Health and Intermountain Health, as well as provider searches that include locations outside of Montana.

"Our partnership with SCL Health, also known as Intermountain Health, means that some portions of the MyChart service are shared between SCL Health and its affiliates," St. Peter's said in the FAQ. 

"This also means that when you use certain MyChart tools you may see information about other providers or locations from SCL Health and its affiliates." 

Some of St. Peter’s providers also do not accept online appointment scheduling through MyChart, the health system added.

"This effort is a tremendous partnership between St. Peter’s Health, Intermountain Health and Epic, and we continue to work closely to finish converting data from St. Peter’s previous patient portal into MyChart," Epic said in a statement sent to Healthcare IT News Thursday.

"While a transition of this magnitude can create temporary disruptions for patients, we remain confident that the move to Epic and MyChart will improve their experience at St. Peter’s and allow for greater access and better tools for self-managing their health."

More information and support for patients and caregivers is available on St. Peter's website.

THE LARGER TREND

Small hospitals are currently changing EHRs faster than large hospitals, according to the Small-Hospital Patient Accounting report the KLAS Arch Collaborative released in March.

In the researchers' latest – Epic Complete Look 2023, a high-level analysis of the key capabilities and performance ratings based on user feedback – there's no direct option to buy and deploy Epic for community hospitals of less than 200 beds, like St. Peter's. 

In 2020, KLAS researchers said in "The Reality of Community Connect vs. Direct Contracting" report that "Those on Community Connect, who rely on their host organization for support, tend to be considerably less satisfied and fault Epic for allowing host organizations to deliver an experience below Epic’s usual standard."

Meanwhile, the Sequoia Project's Consumer Voices Workgroup released findings this week from its recent consumer engagement study, along with recommendations for improving patient access, use and sharing of data on patient portals that are tethered to electronic health records. 

"It isn’t surprising that people expect a similar and reasonable amount of digital ease from their healthcare providers as experienced with other consumer services," said Shannah Koss, consumer advocate, president of Koss on Care and cochair of the workgroup, in the announcement.

Patients want health record access with usability, but patients across the U.S. experience road blocks accessing and sharing their health data, the workgroup said, noting that the problem is national in scope. 

ON THE RECORD

"Our Epic partners, who work with health systems across the globe on EHR conversions, believe that our transition to Epic has been incredibly successful but we recognize that there is work to do to make this the best possible experience for our patients," said St. Peter's Health in its media advisory.

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.