Epic Sapphire release to go live July 28

July 24, 2024

Providence News Team

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Two important Epic updates are occurring July 28, including adding patients' ability to specify test result release method in MyChart and a major Epic release.

Result release preferences in MyChart available July 28

Beginning with the Epic Release on July 28, patients can specify their results release preferences via MyChart, with the following two options:

As soon as they are available (results are released according to our current release schedule.)

Let my care team decide (care teams can review and manually release results for the patient using the normal result review process for up to 7 days. After 7 days, results are released automatically.)

Note that there is no change to the current release schedule. Results held during the ordering process using one of the 6 approved reasons will remain on hold indefinitely.

Providence supports the patient's right to own and manage their health care information and encourages caregivers to re-engage with patients on test results as needed.

On July 28, patients logging into MyChart will see a pop-up window in the Test Results page, giving the options noted above. Patients can subsequently change their selection at any time using the Test Results Preferences menu.

Prepare for the major Epic release on July 28

The second major Epic release of 2024 is planned for 1 a.m. PT, July 28. Please review the information below to help prepare for expected downtime and updates.

What’s changing?

Starting July 8, you can learn about the enhancements that will impact your role in Epic. Epic Release education is available through Epic Release: July 2024 (Service Line) education and your Epic Learning Home Dashboard.

Highlights for July's Epic Release

Combining "Plan" and "Wrap Up" Activities into a single "This Visit" Activity for a seamless workflow during patient visits with physicians and APCs.

Introducing the New Health Maintenance Activity to provide clinicians with a comprehensive tool for assessing care gaps.

Enhancing usability by allowing orders to be sent via secure chat. Enabling direct ordering from the activity.

Introducing Cluster Your Care in the Brain offering drag-and-drop functionality to organize tasks efficiently in the Brain, thus improving workflows and reducing trips to patient rooms.

Mark your calendar for these upcoming release-related events:

Jul 8	Education publication: Epic Release education will be available on Epic Release: July 2024 (Service Line) education (ELR) and Learning Home Dashboards, highlighting the most impactful workflow changes.
Jun 23 - Aug 3	Code Freeze: Ensures the integrity of our build and prepare Epic environments for the release.
Jul 24- Jul 28	Technical Lockdown: During lockdown, certain Epic personalization features are unavailable for update, but still available for use.
Jul 28	Epic Downtime & Go-Live: Epic will be unavailable for 1-3 hours on Sunday, July 28 beginning 1 a.m. PT for updates deployment. Follow standard downtime procedures.

As with every Epic Release, Clinical and Business Informatics teams will communicate and provide education on the most impactful changes. Please look for emails and meeting invites as we approach these dates. The Virtual Clinical Informatics (Epic Support Team: 844-922-7548) and Informatics teams will also be available to help with any questions and provide support immediately following each release.

Additional details will be shared regularly as they become available via our Viva Engage and SharePoint sites.

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