Morris Hospital and Healthcare Centers unify on MEDITECH Expanse

Morris Hospital and Healthcare Centers (Morris, IL) recently embarked on a journey to move from four-plus disparate healthcare solutions to one enterprise-wide EHR. With over 200 physicians and advanced practice professionals on its medical staff along with clinical operations across 27 locations in 12 communities, the organization’s priority was to stay independent while enabling more complete patient care across the board. With the Expanse EHR, they found a system that met their needs, along with an implementation that ran smoothly and under budget. 

Morris’ implementation team formed a go-live command center and provided at-the-elbow support during the first two weeks of production. “Our clinicians transitioned to the new EHR without a negative impact on their workflow,” said Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers CIO John F. Wilcox. “We found great value in how the fully integrated EHR provided all members of the care team with greater visibility across the patient’s journey.” In addition, the organization’s revenue cycle process remained strong, as they never missed a financial statement and finished their fiscal year with a strong financial performance.

“I am so grateful for the way our implementation went,” said Wilcox. “With minimal disruptions, we were handling normal volumes and operations in under 90 days post go-live. We are not even a year in, and we are already undertaking optimization projects and participating in early adopter programs.”

Morris began their EHR selection process three years before their go-live, following their board directive to consolidate systems onto a unified platform. The organization underwent a complete system selection process to research available options and identify the long-term players in the healthcare market. 

Leaders from the executive team, department heads, and provider physicians preferred Expanse following a thorough head-to-head comparison of each vendor’s solution. “We see MEDITECH Expanse as the product of the future,” Wilcox said. “MEDITECH presented a strong value proposition and foundation that we can build on as our organization continues to grow.” 

Morris’ future plans include piloting Expanse Now to provide their physician team with greater mobility, as well as using their Surveillance solution to implement tool kits like sepsis early detection, and depression and suicide screening. They will also use patient registries to support their Accountable Care Organization, and a collaborative care model formed by their family care centers to provide behavioral healthcare services.

“I am honored that Morris Hospital and Healthcare selected our scalable EHR to support their goals for independence, innovation, and cost efficiency,” said MEDITECH Executive Vice President and COO Helen Waters. “We look forward to continuing our partnership and providing solutions that facilitate whole patient care in their communities today and in the future.”