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Every month, Mark Lepsch, MD (Northridge Internal Medicine), educates providers about our electronic medical record (EMR) during the Epic Happy Half Hour, a monthly 20-30 minute webinar focused on improving provider proficiency with Epic. These sessions address key areas of provider EMR workflows:

• Setup of screens, chart review, and navigation
• InBasket skills and management
• Orders: personalization and optimization
• Notes and communication

Providers should tune in for easy-to-access, high-yield information and training. Dr. Lepsch says, “The time spent watching and optimizing skills, screens, and workflows will save time later and lead to more happiness in your daily work. And, sadly, it’s probably not a good idea to consider this training ‘optional,’ as Epic keeps changing the EMR — just like your smartphone keeps updating and changing. I fear that those who don’t tune in will slip farther behind into a world of Epic frustration and despair.” The latest video is a two-part series that helps providers construct smartphrases and a smartlist to automate responses which will speed the processing of InBasket messages. 

“I have so much respect and admiration for the providers of healthcare at UVA,” says Dr. Lepsch, “and I continue to learn from their care of my patients as a primary care physician. So, being able to help my colleagues with Epic is very rewarding.” 

Most importantly, Dr. Lepsch says that in 2023, the Epic Happy Half Hour will be transitioning from 20-30 minutes per month to the Epic First Five Minutes per Month. “Providers are way too busy to spend 30 minutes per month — and while this was necessary to cover the basics, we hope to provide advanced skills and lessons in 5-10 minutes per month. Ideally, even the busiest clinicians will want to invest this time to improve their EMR setup and skills.”

Thank you, Dr. Lepsch, for educating us about Epic in a fun, accessible way. Epic Happy Half Hour webinars are archived in the Epic Learning Library (ELL) page (under “Training” and “Provider Programs.”)