Northwell Health Moves to Epic Scheduling System
The health system is transitioning 542 sites to a single platform, requiring staff to work in two systems until November 7.
Updated on Oct. 21, 2026 in Healthcare
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Northwell Health has completed the future encounter conversion for four hospitals and 538 ambulatory sites, marking a critical milestone in its $1.2 billion EHR consolidation project. The system-wide transition to Epic aims to replace more than 30 legacy platforms across the network.
Why it matters
Operators in the healthcare sector often face high-risk transition periods when consolidating fragmented technology platforms across multiple sites. This $1.2 billion investment illustrates the operational intensity of standardizing clinical and administrative workflows for health systems at scale.
The current implementation wave encompasses four hospitals and 538 ambulatory sites, part of a $1.2 billion budget to unify 30 disparate EHR systems. This effort covers 28 hospitals in total, with the recent shift impacting a network managing 42,000 users.
The players
Northwell Health
A large New York-based health system operating 28 hospitals and hundreds of ambulatory locations.
The details
The conversion required transferring upcoming appointments from legacy systems into the Epic platform, a process finalized in mid-October. A soft go-live initiated on October 19 now requires scheduling staff to manage operations across two systems simultaneously. This dual-system workflow is designed to ensure data integrity before the final cutover, which will centralize all appointments on or after November 7.
Timeline
November 2025: Northwell completed its first major Epic go-live.
May 2026: Northwell completed its second Epic implementation wave.
October 16-17, 2026: Northwell completed future encounter scheduling conversion.
October 19, 2026: Northwell began a soft go-live for Epic.
November 7, 2026: Northwell reaches full Epic go-live date.
Market Landscape
This transition marks the final, largest step in Northwell Health’s phased rollout initiated in 2025. It follows a multi-year industry trend toward consolidated EHR platforms as health systems seek to reduce IT complexity.
Operators managing complex system migrations should monitor the dual-system transition period for potential staff bottlenecks. Ensure scheduling protocols are finalized before the November 7 cutover to avoid appointment backlogs.
The takeaway
Large-scale technology consolidation requires rigorous front-end scheduling data cleanup to prevent downstream disruptions. Monitor the system's performance metrics closely following the November 7 full go-live to identify and address legacy data gaps.
What happens next
Full system go-live for the affected hospitals and ambulatory sites is scheduled for November 7, 2026.
Further reading
For broader trends in digital infrastructure, see our Healthcare section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Becker's Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.
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Do you believe large health systems converting to unified digital scheduling platforms improves patient care coordination?
