by Madison Agee
For the past several months, the EpicLeap team has been hard at work building and designing an ecosystem for clinical, operational and technology needs that will help make care seamless at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).
The team has also been engaged in careful planning to help ensure a successful Go Live in November, balancing the need for a seamless transition to eStar with a continued commitment to delivering the level of care patients expect from VUMC. 
Recently, VUMC’s executive leadership approved the following recommendations with important Go Live implications:
• The transition to eStar will occur the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 1, with Thursday, Nov. 2, as the first full day of system Go Live
• To accommodate for this, transition schedules will be reduced during Go Live as follows:
— Outpatient: 40 percent reduction in Week 1, 10 percent reduction in Week 2, and then return to full volume in Week 3
— Inpatient: No reduction
— Operating Rooms: No reduction; ORs will remain open and staffed as needed to complete all cases presented
— Radiology and Lab: No reduction; expect the outpatient reduction to reduce some volume
— Note: Additional guidance on tasks required to reduce clinical schedules (i.e., blocking templates) will be distributed under separate cover to Patient Care Center Clinical Administrative officers, as well as Children’s Hospital and Vanderbilt Behavioral Health outpatient leadership
• Staff Paid Time Off (PTO) and Faculty Provider Time Away (PTA) usage for the weeks leading up to Go Live and the two (2) weeks following Go Live will be limited
— Time off will be limited in the weeks prior to Go Live, and will be highly restricted for two (2) weeks after Go Live
— Note: more information regarding time off will come from executive leaders to their entities
• Employees must complete required eStar training and pass User Proficiency Assessment(s) (UPA) with minimum score of 80 percent to gain access to eStar
eStar requirements:
• Assigned eLearning modules prior to eStar classroom training
• Assigned classroom training
• One Personalization Lab (faculty/APNs only)
— Five (5) attempts to pass each UPA will be allowed
• Staff members who do not pass required UPA(s) after two (2) attempts must attend compensated “study hall” time
• Staff will be provided an additional three (3) attempts to pass required UPA(s), for a total of up to five (5) total attempts
• After Nov. 2, if a staff member has not passed required UPA(s), he/she will not be permitted access to eStar and may only perform duties that do not require clinical system access
• If a staff member’s only duties require clinical system access, then he/she will be suspended without pay until he/she passes required UPA(s) (within five (5) allotted total attempts)
• Staff members will be terminated after five (5) total failed attempts to pass required UPA(s)
• After Nov. 2, faculty who do not pass required UPA(s) will not be permitted access to eStar and may experience disciplinary action
More information can be found in FAQs located here. If you have questions regarding decisions not included in the FAQs, please contact epicleap@vanderbilt.edu.
Consistent with information communicated since the beginning of EpicLeap, this is a project that will require collaboration from every member of VUMC’s workforce.
Collective commitment to EpicLeap’s success is integral to the project and will pave the way for more seamless care at VUMC.