World-renowned Partners HealthCare in Boston, which includes Mass General and Brigham & Womens Hospital, announced in May 2012 it would replace homegrown health information technology throughout its hospitals with an Epic electronic health record. The project, estimated at $1.2 billion, promises to automate paper-based work at Partners' hospitals.

[See also: Partners makes big interoperability push.]

"Together, we will shape an information system that works for the thousands of patients who depend on us for their care," Partners President and CEO Gary Gottlieb, MD, said back in 2012 when he announced the plans. "This vision for health care information technology will ensure that Partners is well positioned to provide the type of high quality, coordinated and efficient care that is best for our patients and our families."

[See also: Partners' CIO on big hope for big data.]

Two years into the project, The Boston Globe takes measure of the progress so far, and takes stock of Partners' goals for the future.

"The investment is part of a gamble by Partners and the U.S. healthcare system that spending vast amounts on information technology will pay off in better health care at lower costs," Globe reporter Priyanka Dayal McCluskey writes.

Paul Hattis, MD, a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and member of the state’s Health Policy Commission, which monitors medical costs, tells the Globe: "We will ultimately all pay for it. Will we get dividends back in terms of better care and greater efficiencies? We don’t know yet."

Read the full article here.