CASE STUDY
Enterprise Epic Migration Across a Multi-State Health System
Executive Summary
During an enterprise-wide transition from Cerner and Sunquest to Epic at Atrium Health, laboratory operations needed to remain reliable throughout a complex, phased go-live. Multiple regions moved in waves, creating periods where laboratories operated across different systems simultaneously. JTG supported the laboratory and interface teams with targeted build, mapping, and integration problem-solving to keep orders and results flowing safely and consistently.
Client & Scale
Atrium Health, a leading integrated health system in the U.S. Southeast, serving millions annually across 40+ hospitals and 1,400+ care locations.
Systems Landscape
Transition from Cerner (EMR) and Sunquest (LIS) to Epic, with Beaker as the laboratory platform.
Migration Approach
Wave-based rollout across four regions, managing periods of concurrent dual-system operations.
Key Risk Focus
Maintaining accurate order and result continuity across systems, interfaces, instruments, and clinician-facing workflows.
Key Details of the Engagement
Core details across client scale, systems landscape, migration approach, and risk focus, shaping how the transition was planned and delivered.
The Challenge
The organization’s go-live plan required multiple regions to transition in waves over an aggressive timeline. That created long stretches where sites were functionally split between the legacy environment and the new Epic environment. The key concern was continuity of laboratory operations: providers needed orders to reach the laboratory and instruments reliably, and results needed to return to the chart without delay.
What Was At Stake
• Patient safety and clinical decision-making depended on orders and results moving end-to-end without interruption.
• Interface and identity mapping issues could prevent orders from reaching the lab or prevent results from returning to the EHR.
• Wave overlap meant the lab had to operate across multiple systems simultaneously, increasing operational risk and troubleshooting complexity.
JTG’s role and approach
JTG embedded expert resources alongside the organization’s laboratory, interface, and Epic teams to address integration dependencies that could have stalled the migration. The work focused on practical build and validation to ensure orders, labels, identifiers, and results behaved as expected across Epic, Sunquest, and Cerner during the transition.
Collaboration and execution
JTG worked closely with the organization’s interface, Epic Bridges, and Beaker teams, in coordination with laboratory leadership, clinical subject matter experts, and IT leadership, to design fixes that matched real operational constraints. In several cases, the team updated interface logic and identifiers so facilities and enterprise MRNs were carried correctly during Wave 2, reducing downstream order and result mismatches. JTG also coordinated with these stakeholders to ensure Epic order identifiers were returned appropriately for lab-initiated orders.
Outcomes and impact
JTG’s support helped keep the program moving when critical integration issues exceeded internal capacity. By taking ownership of Atlas build and issue resolution, JTG reduced burden on team members and improved confidence during
high-pressure cutovers.
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Confidence restored for laboratory and IT stakeholders during go-live waves.
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Reduced staff burnout by absorbing build, troubleshooting, and validation workload.
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Faster issue resolution through deep interface expertise and structured testing.