DONALDSONVILLE — The West Ascension Parish Hospital announced on Friday the launch of a new electronic health record system that will strengthen care coordination while improving access to health information. 

The new system, called EPIC CommunityConnect, will go live on Sept. 1.

According to the hospital, it has prepared for the new system over the past 11 months through clinical preparation, staff training, technology integration, workflow redesign, data migration, and testing to ensure patients receive a more connected healthcare experience. 

EPIC, one of the nation's leading electronic health record platforms, will provide the hospital with enhanced capabilities to securely manage and share patient health information across participating healthcare organizations. 

"From a nursing and clinical perspective, having timely and comprehensive patient information is extremely important," said Chief Nursing Officer Loretta Larvadin. "EPIC will give our care teams a more integrated view of the patient’s healthcare journey, which can help us make better-informed clinical decisions and improve communication across the continuum of care."

Benefits from the new system include improved access to health information, allowing authorized healthcare providers to access important medical information, more complete clinical information, reduced duplication of testing and procedures and improved medication management.