BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA, February 10, 2026 – Health First, a Brevard County integrated delivery network, is now operating with a unified technology system across its 10,000 employees, 600 providers, hospitals, clinics, and 100,000-member health plan—and at a lower annual cost than before. The organization completed rapid successive rollouts of Epic for its provider division in June 2025 and Epic Tapestry for its health plan on January 1.
Streamlining Healthcare: One Platform to Rule Them All
A Florida health system found that consolidating to a single technology backbone—Epic—reduced costs and improved efficiency.
- After unwinding a partnership, Health First staff were using up to nine separate systems.
- The organization adopted an “Epic first” governance model, prioritizing the vendor’s suite.
- Operational leaders, not IT, drove key decisions throughout both implementations.
- Health First opted for separate Epic instances to maintain flexibility across its service area.
- The provider go-live was accelerated by closely following Epic’s recommended methodology.
The move to a single, integrated system wasn’t just about technology; it was about fixing a fractured workflow. Roughly four years ago, Health First brought its health plan back in-house after dissolving a partnership with Oscar Health. The result? Staff struggled to navigate as many as nine disparate systems to perform basic tasks. Claims information resided in one application, member data in another, and customer relationship management functions in yet another. This inefficiency not only hampered employees but also degraded the member experience. Representatives at the contact center had to juggle multiple logins just to answer a single phone call, diverting attention from the person on the line.
What’s the best way to consolidate fragmented systems? Health First’s experience suggests a straightforward approach: invest in a comprehensive suite, adhere to the vendor’s methodology, and empower operational teams to lead the charge.
The Power of Interoperability
Selecting Epic for the provider side paved the way for Tapestry. The interoperability benefits of staying within the Epic ecosystem were too significant to ignore. Health First evaluated competing payer platforms but ultimately concluded that the seamless data sharing offered by Epic was a game-changer. For example, digital ID cards now flow effortlessly between the health plan and provider environments, eliminating the need for patients to present insurance cards at the point of service.
The trend of organizations adopting Epic’s payer platform module—even without using Epic for claims processing—for its data exchange capabilities further solidified Health First’s decision.
Balancing Centralization and Flexibility
Health First opted for two separate Epic instances—one for the provider division and one for the health plan. This decision stemmed from geographic considerations and a desire for flexibility. The provider network primarily operates within Brevard County, while the health plan serves members in surrounding counties. A single instance risked imposing provider-side configurations on health plan operations in those outlying markets. Epic’s payer platform module still connects the two instances for data sharing, allowing Health First to reap the integration benefits without sacrificing independence.
Following the Vendor’s Lead
Epic’s go-live readiness assessment process received high praise from the Health First team. The methodology employs a deliberate handoff sequence: Epic leads the initial assessment, provides coaching during the second, IT takes the lead in the third, and operational leaders own the final round. By the end, the responsibility for readiness rests with the business, with leaders confirming their teams are trained, workflows are understood, and the organization is prepared. This standard extends far beyond simply verifying that the software functions correctly.
Health First signed its provider contract in January 2024 and went live 17 months later, accelerating the original September target to June by closely following Epic’s recommended approach. On the Tapestry side, enrollment launched October 1, 2025, with full claims processing following on January 1.
“Epic First” Governance
Governance followed what Michael Carr, VP and CIO at Health First, calls an “Epic first” principle. “We started with the assumption that Epic meets our needs,” he said. “And if it doesn’t, the operational owner needs to prove that it doesn’t.” The organization purchased the full suite and aimed to deploy everything it acquired. In a few instances, Epic acknowledged that a specific module wasn’t yet mature enough for Health First’s requirements—a level of transparency Carr found rare among vendors. These gaps led to targeted third-party selections, with a plan to revisit those choices as Epic’s capabilities evolved.
Carr emphasized the importance of vendor honesty. He distinguishes between companies that tell health systems what they want to hear and those willing to deliver difficult truths. “That transparency and honesty is what separates a vendor from a partner,” he said. “Vendors don’t want to offend you. Partners are willing to tell you the hard things that you need to hear.” He cited instances where Epic challenged Health First’s preferences, connecting them with other customers who had succeeded with the recommended approach. This willingness to say no, Carr believes, protects both parties from costly mistakes.
Operations in the Driver’s Seat
Both implementations marked a departure from Carr’s previous experiences, where IT often drove enterprise technology programs. At Health First, Cheyana Fisher, the chief nurse executive, served as executive sponsor for the provider rollout, and Jamie Forrest, COO of the health plan, led the Tapestry program. Carr’s IT organization facilitated, guided, and managed technical risk, but business leaders owned the key decisions. This structure ensured accountability and prevented IT from becoming a bottleneck in operational trade-offs. Carr describes this dynamic as a dyad—the CIO removes obstacles so the executive sponsor can operate strategically without getting bogged down in technical details.
This emphasis on operational ownership extends beyond go-live. Carr views both platform decisions as generational commitments. He cautions against sacrificing relationships for speed, stating, “I look at this as a generational decision. I’m going to be on this platform for the next 20 years.” He believes that damaging relationships with operational partners during implementation—through rushed rollouts, poor change management, or inadequate pilots—undermines the trust an IT leader needs for decades of optimization work.
Health First maintained its governance structure throughout the transition from implementation to steady-state operations, and Carr continues to push decision-making back to the business side.
For CIOs considering a similar commitment, Carr offers a final thought: “You can definitely do it cheaper, but you’ll pay for it twice.”
