100 Most Influential People in Healthcare - 2021

In the past year, 239 hospitals moved to new electronic health record systems and Epic gained the most new customers, according to KLAS Research. Many of Epic’s new provider sales—46 hospitals representing more than 15,000 beds—came from large systems of more than 10 hospitals.

Faulkner founded Epic in her Wisconsin basement in 1979. She continues to serve as the company’s CEO, supporting the medical records of 250 million patients and attracting major medical center clients like Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic. Faulkner says she is proud of Epic’s in-house software development, employee ownership, developer leadership and operating expense investment in R&D. Faulkner has signed the Giving Pledge, agreeing to gift 99% of her assets to a charitable foundation.

Faulkner speaks: “Don’t be a champion of the mediocre. If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way. Be an enabler, not an inhibitor. If you see a snake, kill it; don’t form a committee on snakes.”