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Health Commission recommends Board approval of 10-year Epic EHR contract
Summary
The San Francisco Department of Public Health commission voted to recommend Board of Supervisors approval of a 10-year contract with Epic City Government LLC for a unified electronic health record covering hospitals, clinics, jail health and behavioral health; commissioners emphasized governance and quarterly reporting.
Bill Kim, the Department of Public Health’s chief information officer, told the commission that the department has negotiated a 10-year contract with Epic City Government LLC for a unified electronic health record and asked the commission to recommend the contract for Board of Supervisors approval.
Kim said the EHR procurement began in early 2017, more than 10 vendors signaled interest and two met minimum requirements. The department scored proposals on cost, user functionality, technical capability, implementation history and organizational roadmap, and concluded Epic best met the criteria. He said the contract’s scope covers Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Laguna Honda, ambulatory clinics, population health, jail health and behavioral health, and includes software, implementation, hosting and ongoing support.
“This is a 10 year contract. It is within the budget,” Kim said during the presentation. He described a governance structure that DPH and its health informatics team have established to manage scope, budget and deliverables and said the project team will provide regular updates to the commission and quarterly reports.
Commissioners praised the team’s work and emphasized oversight. Commissioner Penney moved the recommendation and a second was offered; the chair called the voice vote and reported the motion carried with all those present saying “aye.” After the vote, Epic product manager Lydia Grundle and business analyst J. G. Howard introduced themselves and said they look forward to the partnership and future reports.
The presentation referenced the original RFP cap ($150,000,000) and stated that a city contingency brings the total cited in the slide deck to “167,384” (figure as presented in the materials; units were not specified in the transcript). Kim noted that some third-phase products—particularly behavioral health—were included and that the contract remains within the RFP budget. Commissioners asked for and were told the department will return with quarterly reports that provide implementation metrics and milestones.
Next steps: the commission recommended the contract for Board of Supervisors approval; the Board must take the final procurement action before the department can start project implementation.
