Have you started preparing for the transition from Epic Hyperspace to Epic Hyperdrive? As you begin your journey, you may be wondering how you should begin, who should be involved, which vendors are affected, and how to budget for these required third party upgrades. Check out these tips as you begin planning.
1. What is Epic Hyperdrive?
Epic Hyperdrive is the web-enabled version of Epic, and it offers several benefits like a modern user interface, streamlined workflow, productivity gains, and efficiencies with upgrade processes. You will need to complete this required change prior to upgrading to version May 2023.
2. How can you prepare for the transition from Epic Hyperspace to Epic Hyperdrive?
- Focus on prework. Analysts should not defer Nova notes that are applicable to the pre-work required for Hyperdrive. Addressing notes sooner rather than deferring them will reduce the build and training time that is required during your initial rollout for Hyperdrive. Taking care of the pre-work will help your analyst focus on specific Hyperdrive initiatives and end users will become accustomed to certain changes.
- Get organized. As we help hospitals with their transition, it has been key for us to organize Hyperdrive along with the next two upgrades. For example, since Hyperdrive is version independent, you can streamline your Citrix image strategy to have one image for non-production and one for production. Also, you may want to explore using Kuiper Satellite to help simplify your system updates for the new version, because this feature will allow for certain automated updates. Or, consider taking advantage of your organization’s Windows patching process to simplify system updates.
3. Who should you involve in your transition to Hyperdrive?
- Your Epic BFF. This individual will be your right-hand teammate during the stages of Hyperdrive to ensure its success for your organization.
- Client systems teams. The beginning states of Hyperdrive transition are highly technical and should be coordinated closely with your client systems teams.
- Project manager and architects. Consider having a dedicated project manager and architect(s) to help lead the effort. The project manager is crucial for corralling the
application leads, ensuring timelines are met, and generating solid documentation.
The architect is vitally important because they help define the go-forward solution that aligns with the organizational structure – operationality and technically. For example, you might have one architect who is focused on technical aspects, which includes the deployment of Hyperdrive, and another architect who is focused on the clinical aspects of the upgrade, which involves the application build.
4. Which vendors might be affected by the Hyperdrive transition?
We have been in contact with each vendor we integrate with and determining which ones will remain compatible with Hyperdrive and which ones will eventually be decommissioned.
If you have not begun contacting vendors you integrate with, then you should communicate with vendors for systems such as:
- Imaging/PACS
- Dictation
- Two-factor authentication
5. What advice do you have when it comes to working with vendors during the transition to Hyperdrive?
Based on our experience working with third-party vendors, you should pay close attention to these areas so you can prevent potential delays or issues:
- Determine resource needs and establish the budget. Be sure you ask vendors to specify the cost of transitioning to Hyperdrive. What is included in the budget? What resources will they provide? Are there additional costs for development?
- Agree upon the timeline. We have had experience with certain vendors who did not provide development timelines so we established consistent development project touchpoints to have insight into progress and help prevent delays.
- Clarify the application roadmap and set expectations for sunsetting applications. Be sure you understand if the application will be upgraded, sunset and no longer used, or replaced with a new product. If determining a new product, then consider the budget and timeline implications, because often selecting and integrating a new product requires multiple conversations, decision points, and stakeholders.
Of course, if you need expert advice or additional staffing resources during your transition to Epic Hyperdrive, the CereCore Epic team is available. We are ready to serve as your advocates, liaisons and extensions of your team to help you power through the transition to Hyperdrive.