An Unlikely Pairing in Uncommon Times: Governor Recruits Healthcare Software Company for COVID-19 Response

State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) staff in Wisconsin are working with implementation experts from a healthcare software company to coordinate COVID-19 information and services for nearly 6 million people.

“We were facing an unprecedented set of challenges,” said Julie Willems Van Dijk, Deputy Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. “Epic is used to helping organizations with large-scale, complex projects on fast timelines. Their expertise has played a pivotal role in the success of our task forces.”

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers contacted the company as early cases in the state were being reported. A team is working onsite at the SEOC command center to support the state in several areas:

• Identifying additional lab capacity to meet increased demand for COVID-19 testing.
• Helping facilities increase available isolation capacity for those who cannot safely isolate at home.
• Helping healthcare systems analyze and increase bed availability.
• Developing a plan to streamline and prioritize distribution of personal protective equipment and essential supplies.
• Increasing childcare capacity to support healthcare workers.

“Our work with healthcare organizations around the world prepared us to help coordinate this effort with the state,” said Danessa Sandmann, Implementation Director and lead for Epic’s state response team. “We’ve been able to translate the work we do every day to support our customers and their patients to help with the COVID-19 response right here at home.”

Epic is donating its services to the state.