In one of the most ambitious health IT transformations ever undertaken in oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) unified its entire care system—linking patients, providers, researchers, and labs through a fully integrated Electronic Health Record (EHR) that enables faster answers and enhanced care coordination.
As of February 1, 2025, more than 18,000 MSK staff across hospitals and outpatient sites now work from a unified Epic EHR, allowing care teams to instantly access patient history, test results, and treatment plans—no matter where care is delivered.
Faster Answers When It Matters Most
For patients undergoing cancer treatment, timely lab results are essential. With the EHR, critical results are automatically pushed to providers’ mobile devices, enabling faster response times. On average, providers acknowledge these results within just three minutes, compared to the 45-minute average when results are communicated by phone. This automated delivery lightens the clerical workload for lab staff and equips providers with timely information to support faster, better-informed care decisions.
A Unified Patient Journey
MSK unified oncology treatment planning, lab operations, scheduling, and research participation into a single, shared record. This integration helps patients who receive care across multiple departments in a single day—such as imaging, lab, and infusion – enabling a more streamlined experience.
Digital Access for 100,000 Patients—On Day One
Ahead of the launch, MSK helped more than 100,000 patients register for MyChart so that on day one, they’d have online access to their health information. Today, nearly 90% of patients actively manage their care online—checking results, confirming appointments, and messaging their care team directly.
Advancing Electronic Research Consent
With more than 1,800 active research studies and over 25,000 patients enrolled in studies at any given time, streamlining the consent process has been a longstanding priority for MSK. Electronic consent improves the experience for patients, reduces administrative burden, and minimizes errors compared to paper-based workflows.
As part of their EHR transformation, MSK fully integrated eConsent workflows into Epic—eliminating the need for providers to use a separate system, enabling patients to consent directly through MyChart, and automating key processes like follow-up for outdated consents. Today, more than 80% of study consents are completed electronically in Epic. MSK plans to further increase this percentage through continuous workflow improvements and by offering eConsent in more than 20 languages.
At Epic’s 2025 Expert Group Meetings, MSK presented on their large-scale rollout of eConsents—helping other organizations follow in their footsteps.
Sharing What Works: MSK Helps Peers Advance Cancer Care
As a world leader in oncology, MSK now helps other institutions benefit from its transformation. MSK collaborated with Epic to add almost 50 of their oncology-specific nurse triage protocols to Epic’s standard configuration—making them easily available to the entire Epic community. They are also hosting site visits that highlight integrated lab workflows and operational coordination.
Upcoming sessions at the 2025 Epic Users Group Meeting will cover topics such as genetic risk assessments and rapid delivery of critical results.
