Sawtooth Mountain Clinic Celebrates One Year of Epic, Prepares for Pharmacy System Upgrade
Sawtooth Mountain Clinic Celebrates One Year of Epic, Prepares for Pharmacy System Upgrade
One year ago, Sawtooth Mountain Clinic (SMC) transitioned to Epic, a leading electronic health record (EHR) platform used by healthcare organizations across the country. One year later, we’re celebrating important milestones that are helping create a more seamless, coordinated, and connected experience for our patients.
Some of the improvements made possible by Epic include:
- Connected to leading healthcare systems: SMC now uses Epic, the same electronic health record platform used by Mayo Clinic and our regional healthcare partners, including Essentia Health and Aspirus St. Luke’s. Sharing a common platform helps strengthen collaboration with other healthcare organizations and supports more coordinated care.
- Better access to health information nationwide: Epic’s Care Everywhere feature helps clinicians securely access and exchange patient health information with participating clinics, specialist offices, and hospitals across the country. This makes it easier for care teams to see the bigger picture, coordinate treatment, and make informed decisions when patients receive care at multiple organizations.
- Improved coordination with North Shore Health: SMC and North Shore Health successfully launched bidirectional interfaces for laboratory and imaging services, allowing information, including orders and results, to flow electronically between the organizations. This helps streamline workflows, reduce manual steps, and support timely clinical decisions.
- More convenient access through MyChart: Epic’s patient portal, MyChart, gives patients a convenient way to access their health information online, review test results, view portions of their medical record, communicate with their care team, and manage appointments and other available services. These tools help patients stay informed, take a more active role in their healthcare, and stay connected with their care team between visits.
- A smoother overall patient experience: Epic helps streamline workflows and reduce manual steps, allowing patients to move through the care process more easily while supporting staff in delivering efficient, coordinated care.
Together, these improvements help create a more fluid and connected patient experience. Better access to information, stronger communication between care teams, and more streamlined processes help reduce unnecessary steps, support informed clinical decisions, and promote safer, better-coordinated care. By investing in a widely adopted, industry-leading EHR platform, SMC is strengthening its ability to collaborate with healthcare partners and provide high-quality care to the communities we serve.
Next Up: An Upgrade for SMC Pharmacy
As we celebrate this first year of progress, SMC Pharmacy is preparing for the next phase of the Epic transition: Epic Willow Ambulatory, a pharmacy management system that integrates prescription processing, patient records, and clinical services into one platform.
This upgrade will help streamline pharmacy operations, strengthen coordination with the rest of the care team, and support safer, more efficient patient care.
Please note the following schedule changes as we prepare for the new upgrade:
- Thursday, November 5: Open until 12:00pm.
- Friday, November 6: Closed all day.
- Monday, November 9: Epic Willow Ambulatory goes live. The pharmacy will be open during its regular business hours.
During the transition period, prescription processing and customer service may take longer than usual as our pharmacy team learns the new system. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this change.
Thank you for trusting Sawtooth Mountain Clinic with your care! We’re proud of what our team and partners have accomplished over the past year. As we continue building on this foundation, our focus remains the same: providing high-quality, connected, and safe care for the communities we serve.