HTN caught up with Matt Moore, Director of Health and Public Sector at Rackspace Technology, who shared some insight into current trends and future directions around EPRs.
Trusts tend to fall into three different categories, he shared: “They either have an EPR that they’re looking to optimise; they might be in the process of moving to a new EPR or consolidating multiple EPRs; or their digital maturity is hindering their EPR adoption.”
Approaches to EPR
For trusts with an approved business case and an approved budget, “we’d recommend not just automatically agreeing to do everything with that EPR provider”, Matt said. “If you look globally to countries like the US, lots of organisations do not host directly with their provider, they host separately, and that means that the data can be easily accessed by other applications, and they can do integrations simply.” Working with a third party that can “host everything” brings the data much closer together, according to Matt, “and you also don’t need to worry about data egress fees. Nearly all of the trusts we talk to aren’t aware that’s an option; they get given the bill for the tech and a quote for the hosting, and if you don’t ask, you’re not told there’s an option to host anywhere else.”
Finding a third party like Rackspace Technology, who have a cloud platform for hosting, should work out “20 percent cheaper”, Matt considered, “and you then get the benefits of working alongside experts in hosting”.
Considerations when approaching EPR at ICB level
Due to the costs surrounding EPR implementation, “lots of trusts are working on it at ICB or regional level”, Matt shared, “and there are a few key things that we would recommend considering when looking at it from that angle”:
- Who is the lead Trust going to be, and who is responsible for the key decisions?
- What do you need to do to ensure that you see the benefits for your individual Trust?
- How to leverage the best resources across multiple Trusts?
There is the potential to look for best practice business cases, and to copy the bits from those specific to your Trust, Matt noted, “and there’s sometimes a case for the biggest Trust to lead the way, and then to bring everyone else up to speed”.
How can Rackspace Technology assist trusts at varying stages of their EPR journey?
Rackspace Technology can help by bringing in EPR specialists and sovereign cloud specialist capability to deliver the platform, Matt continued. “We’ve already invested in all the necessary infrastructure, from the technology underpinning the application stack to the specific cloud-based solutions that our customers require. So, you don’t have to start from scratch, looking to try and understand cloud in the first place and then trying to design something yourself. We can help you carve out what you need from it and help you deliver it swiftly, and this also means you will only be paying for what you are actually using.” Globally Rackspace is the largest 3rd party hosting provider for Epic.
Rackspace Technology has migrated Trusts in entirety with defined outcomes and benefits, Matt told us. “It’s looking at how we can help to knock down barriers which might be preventing progress, and at wider preparedness around things like digital maturity,” he said.
Rackspace Technology can help in several key domains building up to EPR deployment, optimisation and consolidation, Matt noted, including in:
- Helping Trusts to make progress on a larger scale
- Sharing use cases, best practice and outcomes
- Ensuring cost predictability
- Removing legacy technical debt
- Delivering compliance
- Increasing digital maturity
- Improving clinical experience
Rackspace Technology delivers UK Sovereign Healthcare Cloud for EPR and EPR-adjacent workloads
Our sovereign cloud platform is delivered and managed exclusively within UK borders and isolated from all global platforms. Offering a completely customisable mix of public, private, and hybrid cloud environments, they enable Trusts to build the right platform for the right workloads. We accelerate deployment by leveraging a combination of standard services and pre-designed technical solutions that have been templated, pre-tested and independently accredited.
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