Medical records technology giant Epic Systems Corp. has a new software as a service (SaaS) product for independent medical groups that want to use its software but don't have the in-house IT team required to support it.
The Verona-based company will begin implementing the new software, called Garden Plot, with customers in May, according to an announcement earlier this month.
Garden Plot is Epic's first SaaS product, Epic vice president of Garden Plot JP Heres said. The company has been wanting to build something like it for years but was prompted to do so by the pandemic, he added.
"I think the pandemic highlighted gaps in technology where provider groups weren't able to adapt quickly to new ways of providing care," Heres said. "We saw a need to come in and say, 'Here's a comprehensive solution.'"
Epic designed Garden Plot for the 900 U.S. medical groups that have between 40 and 100 providers and don't currently use Epic software, Heres said.
Around 40,000 medical providers currently access Epic through its Community Connect program, which enables independent medical groups to access the software through larger nearby health systems that use Epic.
"That continues to be our preferred way for smaller hospitals and provider groups to use Epic," Heres said. "It creates a single record for a patient across the community."
However, the medical groups Epic is targeting with Garden Plot may not have a health system partner to connect through or they might work with multiple health systems and don't want to choose one, Heres said.
Garden Plot uses the same version of Epic software as major health care systems but it comes pre-integrated with third-party tools for billing, revenue cycle management, e-prescribing and more. As a SaaS product, it doesn't require a full IT team to manage, and it's priced as a subscription per provider per month, Heres said.
