At a glance

A US healthcare provider automated application testing for its Epic electronic health record (EHR) platform to improve access to data, eliminate inefficiencies, and optimize productivity and cost.

Outcomes

- 40% reduction in testing costs
- Higher productivity and efficiency
- More accurate data and reporting

A large US non-profit healthcare provider based in California operates five hospitals and numerous outpatient facilities and specialty clinics.

Drowning in data

A leading regional healthcare provider employed a large electronic health record (EHR) application to help serve approximately 500,000 patients annually. This mission-critical application needed to run at optimum performance for the healthcare provider’s five hospitals to run smoothly and ensure top-quality care.

To ensure the application was functioning as required, the health system wanted to implement automated application testing, but the existing testing environment was inefficient. All this testing was done in silos and the process was not standardized, which resulted in repetition of the testing procedures across the testing ecosystem.

These operational inefficiencies meant that systems experts and analysts were required to spend more time supervising test design and execution, which drastically impacted their productivity. Additionally, the multiple test design mechanisms resulted in the creation of a high volume of testing data dispersed throughout the organization.

Putting Atos to the test

The healthcare provider needed a more efficient way to design the tests for its EHR system, as well as a robust and standardized test environment to execute them. Faced with an uphill battle, it turned to its partner Atos to improve the test design process and establish a robust testing environment.

Atos began by implementing Epic, a leading EHR management system, across the five hospitals and 32 outpatient facilities. The new Epic system would help the provider operate more efficiently and manage patient data more effectively.

Testing experts from Atos reviewed a variety of factors, including the provider’s test scenarios across the application ecosystem as well as its test planning needs and dependencies. They created a standardized, more efficient testing ecosystem and developed a proof of concept (PoC) for test automation. The PoC was key to selecting the right automation tool and identifying potential areas that could be automated to maximize ROI.

The new automated testing environment now requires a minimum time commitment from the healthcare provider’s subject matter experts and analysts, which increased their overall work efficiency. In addition, Atos successfully performed release testing for the new Epic system — including more than 160 test scenarios — to ensure the new release would function properly for all business areas

Better health through technology

The new Epic EHR system helped create a more standardized, efficient way to store patient health records. And the new automated processes have reduced the cost of testing this critical system by more than 40%.

Automation is also helping increase employee productivity, since system testing now requires a minimal amount of human intervention and dependency on business stakeholders. In addition, the new Epic system can better organize the test data, which helped generate new reporting and insights that enable informed business decisions.

This translates directly into a positive impact on the health of patients. Because the system has more accurate data available at a moment’s notice, clinicians in the hospitals can diagnose ailments faster and provide better treatment to their patients.

Why Atos

Whether you are looking to connect health teams to improve staff and patient communication or improve operational and clinical data insight, Atos can help. Our world-leading integrated services leverage new technologies to improve ways of working and support the shift from paper-based systems to digital clinical workflows.

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