Health system executives descended on Verona, Wisconsin this week for electronic health record company Epic’s annual user group meeting.
The event was a chance for Epic to share its long-term vision, showcase new AI capabilities and perform a skit for attendees.
Related: How Epic is courting customers outside of hospitals
Here are five takeaways from the event, which ran from Monday to Wednesday.
1. Epic CEO touts growth.
Epic founder and CEO Judy Faulkner's executive address on Tuesday reflected on how the company has evolved since its start in March 1979 when it had three part-time employees and a valuation of $70,000. Epic employs 14,000 people and raked in $4.9 billion in revenue last year, according to a company fact sheet. Faulkner did not shy away from touting the company's accomplishments.
“Over time, you’ve become more and more successful with using the software, which means better patient care,” Faulkner said during a keynote address to health system attendees.
Epic is the top EHR vendor to acute-care hospitals and has run up the score in recent years. The company increased its total market share to 39% of acute-care hospitals and 52% of acute-care beds in 2023 from 36% of acute-care hospitals and 48% of acute-care beds in 2022, according to a May report from market research firm KLAS.
2. Cosmos, AI are in the spotlight.
The company isn't content to just serve as an EHR vendor to health systems. It spent the user group highlighting its interest in developing artificial intelligence tools and its data platform Cosmos.
Cosmos, a tool that includes de-identified data from 270 million patients on Epic’s EHR, launched in 2016. At the event, executives said the company will use Cosmos to build a specialized AI large language model for healthcare.
For providers that use Cosmos, Epic said it was testing a tool that would compare treatment outcomes for patients with hypertension and diabetes. It also introduced a virtual care navigator AI tool that could interact with patients and put information from the encounter into the EHR.
While some of the AI tools are for Cosmos users, others are available to all customers. Those include an AI charting capability and coding tools that can assist back-office staff.
3. ROI remains top of mind for health systems.
Many of event's the health system attendees said they are interested in adopting AI tools but only if the technology can generate financial returns. Their hesitancy reflects some of the larger challenges for companies like Epic and others in the AI vendor market.
“AI is new enough that it needs to prove itself,” said Dr. Mark Mabus, chief medical informatics officer at Ft. Wayne, Indiana-based Parkview Health. "Products like ambient clinical documentation are easier to prove a tangible return on investment."
Providers are also hesitant to make significant investments in AI due to the lack of regulation, said chief digital and information officer at Jacksonville, Florida-based Baptist Health, Aaron Miri.
4. Epic attempts to streamline prior authorization.
Epic is planning to deepen its relationships with health insurance companies. The company said at the event it is working with large insurers such as CVS Health subsidiary Aetna, Elevance Health and multiple Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans to streamline prior authorization requests and ease provider appeals to payers. Read more.
5. Leaning into its theme.
The company's event is not just about introducing new product features. It's a themed event, which involves Faulkner and other employees dressing up as characters and conducting skits during the keynote address. This year's theme was "storytime" with Faulkner dressing as a Mother Goose inspired character named Lady Swan. The event included a skit with characters using the EHR to diagnose a complicated fictional condition.
Epic also spared no expense rolling out the red carpet for attendees. Throughout the day, employees shuttled attendees in golf carts across its 1,670-acre campus in Verona, which includes a working farm. Wagons stocked with snacks were spread throughout the company’s hallways, local vendors sold a variety of merchandise and horse-drawn carriages gave attendees a break from the sessions.
