Connect

Since 2021, UVA Health has been on a journey to integrate UVA Community Health into the UVA Health system. The integration, which is founded in the UVA Health 2022-2023 Strategic Plan initiatives of Statewide Expansion and One UVA Health Team, brings together four medical centers, two medical groups, and outpatient services into one integrated health system. With a new mission to “transform health and inspire hope for all Virginians and beyond,” UVA Health’s integration helps enhance patient-centered care; delivers more efficient, collaborative care; aligns entities across the state; and achieves system-level synergies for more people across the Commonwealth. 

In June 2023, the final phase of the integration was achieved, with UVA Health Culpeper Medical Center migrating to the UVA Health Epic and other IT systems — a crucial step to becoming One UVA Health Team. With all of UVA Health now on the same electronic medical record system, team members and providers will realize new potential for collaboration and communication despite being in different geographic regions. Care teams can coordinate care from one central medical record with improved access to patient information — providing a seamless experience for the patient, and more efficient experience for providers and care teams. 

The road to integration took hours of dedicated team members’ time and hard work:

• 265 IT applications integrated.
• 4,698 team members impacted.
• 3,958 team members enrolled in training.
• Total 30,000 (the equivalent of about three and a half years) of training completed.

Integration Impacts at the Bedside    

The impact of finalizing the Epic integration has been felt throughout the system, but especially among providers, whether they are at UVA Health University Medical Center or at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, UVA Health Haymarket Medical Center, UVA Health Culpeper Medical Center or any of the medical group or associated outpatient facilities. And providers can more easily work together to make patient care as frictionless as possible.  

“Providers no longer need to manually import referrals, scans, MRIs, and other images, which cuts down significantly on the administrative burden,” says Darrin Clouse, MD, FACS, DFSVS, RPVI, chief of vascular and endovascular surgery, UVA Health. “Now all our [UVA Health System] patients’ information and care notes from other providers are in one, easy to access place at our fingertips, allowing us to provide a more effective and efficient patient experience.” 

The integration expands opportunities for providers from Charlottesville to tour UVA Community Health facilities and connect with other physicians and providers in Manassas, Haymarket, and Culpeper.  

“It’s been very exciting for everyone to explore how to work together and create visions for the future of care across our system," Erik Shannon, UVA Community Health chief executive officer says. “A big initiative for UVA Community Health is to keep care as close to home as possible for people in Northern Virginia or Culpeper, but also to make sure they are getting highly specialized care at the right time from our colleagues in Charlottesville. I’ve witnessed real-time collaboration in which a UVA Community Health physician calls a colleague at the UVA University Medical Center and within moments, there is a live collaboration consultation happening for a complex patient case. It is truly game-changing.” 

UVA Health Haymarket Medical Center nurse Radma Bhandari, RN, CCU, has found the Epic MyChart integration to be helpful because in her words, “I can now easily access all my patient’s information on the first screen I see, including their providers and medical history, which helps me give my patients more focused time at the bedside.” 

Dr. Clouse began his UVA Health journey in 2019 at UVA Health University Medical Center and currently also sees patients at UVA Health Cardiology in Culpeper. “When UVA Health was acquiring the three community hospitals, I was excited specifically for the Culpeper region because a lot of patients with vascular disease were being referred to us at the time,” he recalls. "Now as one system, instead of separate hospitals operating on different systems, the interaction and communication we have with the ER and other providers is greatly improved.” 

Looking Forward as One UVA Health  

Mary Frances Southerland, Chief Administrative Officer, UVA Health has seen the many changes the health system has gone through. “As I reflect on the integration journey, I am incredibly proud of what this organization has accomplished in the last two years,” Mary Frances says. “The integration of Epic across all our clinical care sites is remarkable, particularly given the pace of the effort, but there are so many areas that we have already achieved synergy for our patients, providers, and team members. It is a true demonstration of what this organization is capable of when we work collaboratively and with focus.” 

Erik praises team members for their continued focus on patient care throughout the other transition activities. " I am most proud of our continued focus on patient care and safety. It is the result of coming together to as one team across UVA Health and UVA Community Health,” he said. “We wouldn’t have had the successes we’ve had without that happening.”   

The Vision for the Patient Experience Across a Unified System 

As community hospitals, UVA Community Health has a long-tanding and special connection to its communities. This integration now allows UVA Community Health to continue that personalized level of care and access to one of the leading academic centers in the nation.  

“I am excited that we are connected to UVA Health University Medical Center, a bigger hospital with more specialties, and a teaching hospital,” Radma adds. “We can continue to improve patient care and refer patients to Charlottesville, instead of ... other health systems.”  

Being able to care for more patients, and offering more to the patients we currently serve is a benefit for everyone across UVA Health. This also means more opportunities for team members and it is another way of attracting amazing talent. For UVA Community Health, this directly ties into our strategic plan pillars of being the best place to work and addressing the health needs of our local communities. 

“Integration and the journey toward One UVA Health as part of our strategic plan creates a true network of care to serve our patients across the Commonwealth,” Mary Frances added. “By driving toward an integrated system, we are eliminating duplicative process across the entities and synergizing various parts of our organization. This not only benefits our patients and team members, but it also creates the opportunity for cost savings across the entire footprint.” 

Dr. Clouse practices in Charlottesville and Culpeper. He sees the opportunity to expand his care throughout Virginia. “I’m really excited about UVA Health’s desire to grow,” he says. “I think there is a lot of need throughout Central VA and in northern Virginia, and now, this collaborative and interactive work can be done throughout the Commonwealth.” 

Gratitude for Our Greatest Asset: Our Team Members 

When asked what she is most proud of along the integration journey, Mary Frances shares, “There is a lot to be proud of, but I love when I see team members from across the system come together to support one another — whether it’s in the coordination of patient care or traveling to other facilities to support go-live activities. We are maturing in our journey towards true systemness, but this kind of collaboration is the hallmark of success in integrations of this nature.” 

Erik adds, “I am proud to be a part of this team. The level of collaboration is unprecedented, and it has delivered impressive results. Optimizing for our future now means looking across all of UVA Health as one system and finding opportunities to improve quality, streamline access and revenue cycles, pursue contracts and partnerships that afford us economies of scale, and all the benefits that cross-pollination will bring to both sides. I am so grateful to everyone who has been patient and given the assumption of positive intent. We are building something incredibly special. I could not be prouder.”