A look into a UC Health Davis telehealth analyst’s Epic role

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Electronic health records (EHR) giant Epic Systems has largely become a mainstay to many hospital providers, with last year being its biggest year yet as it added 176 multispecialty hospitals and more than 29,000 beds to its market, Fierce Healthcare reported in May. That jump in growth brought the company to control 42.3% of the acute care EHR market.

So it only makes sense that there would be hospital employees whose entire job is to navigate Epic.

That’s where Sacramento, California-based UC Davis Health’s Kevin Fox, certified Epic systems telehealth analyst, comes in. He works to help coordinate virtual care for the 653-bed facility, and previously did similar work as an Epic analyst with Fresno, California-based Community Medical Centers and Newton, Massachusetts-based Atrium Health.

Healthcare Brew spoke with Fox about how his role works and the areas he’s most excited about in the industry.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How would you describe your specific job to someone who doesn’t work in healthcare?

I build telemedicine tools that integrate deeply into the hospital’s [EHR]. I specifically work on tools and workflows that link lower-populated areas to highly specialized physicians at UC Davis and other equity-related fields that provide care and valuable research to advancement of the field.

What’s the best change you’ve made or seen at a place you’ve worked?

I’m implementing an integrated remote family visitation workflow for NICU babies and their parents. It’s simplifying the efforts for nurses and parents while creating clean data for research, which one researcher is already planning to use after the go-live. (Go-live is on Oct. 29.)

Of completed work, I was one of the first to lead a project in e-prescribing controlled substances in an ambulatory space years ago.

I’ve additionally created a novel method of telestroke care. It involves countless interfaces and notification streams

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

Targeting benefits for decreasing staff burnout, increasing patient access, and bridging the equity gap without adding costs to anybody while eliminating expenditures.

What healthcare trend are you most optimistic about?

Cancer research. It’s not related to what I do. We all just have a story, and I’m living through one with somebody. Seeing the progress the world has made with treatment is comforting.

What healthcare trend are you least optimistic about?

American insurers’ continued existence due to their degradation of care incentives, constant cost increases, and government-accepted trait of doing as they want.

Tell us about one new or old health tech product or platform that’s made your life easier.

My whole livelihood has been predicated on Epic. I’ve been building in it for 11 years across six modules. The expanse it has created is incredible, and though it has some rightful critics, physicians and nurses joining an Epic-running organization [after using other options] are always relieved to do so.