“If you haven’t been part of an Epic Go Live before, it’s a pretty amazing experience,” said Chris Costello, director of the EpicLeap program, referring to the time period when Epic software goes into production for the first time. “It’s borderline magical.”

When eStar goes live in the early morning hours of Nov. 2, the transition process should be largely invisible to the hundreds of patients who will be in the care of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) at the time.

Training an entire organization on how to use a new computer system isn’t a simple task — especially when it involves adequately training more than 17,000 employees during a span of just 10 weeks.

In an effort to continue its constant search for ways to enhance patient care, VUMC has embarked on a journey to reach for the future of health care — a new galaxy equipped with the resources needed to take its work to new heights.

Much more than a just software replacement, eStar, the Epic-based clinical software platform replacing StarPanel, will be the backbone of a new information technology ecosystem for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) that will usher in future successes and create the potential to better serve patients, said Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of VUMC and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

About 250 research staff members attended an EpicLeap for Research Town Hall on Monday to learn what they must do to prepare for the Nov. 2 launch of eStar, Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s version of the Epic clinical, administrative and billing software system.