Stephen Stair, M.D., FACP, and James “Stu” Booth, M.D., MSHI, have been named associate chief medical information officers (ACMIOs) for UAB Medicine. They will guide implementation of the new Epic electronic health record (EHR) platform, serving as go-to sources of information, education, and updates throughout the transition.
Dr. Stair will step away from his 30-year primary care practice and his 20-year position as medical compliance officer and focus on this new role as ambulatory lead. The scale of the Epic project requires full-time dedicated physician oversight, he says.
Dr. Booth, an Emergency Department leader at UAB Medicine for many years and the current interim CMIO, will lead the effort for the inpatient and ED areas. Both doctors will retain clinical roles in their respective departments.
“The entire enterprise, encompassing all UAB Medicine entities and clinics, will adopt Epic,” Dr. Stair said. “Patients at UAB, UAB St. Vincent’s, Medical West, Callahan Eye, Cooper Green, and all of our other facilities will be seamlessly connected in the EHR. Our transition deadline is July 2026 for UAB St. Vincent’s and February 2027 for all other entities. With that timeline in place, obviously this effort requires consistent and focused attention.”
All aspects of the transition to the new EHR are collectively called the Epic Journey. As ACMIOs, Drs. Booth and Stair will be the physician champions to help ensure that providers receive ongoing updates regarding the Epic Journey. To that end, they are using multiple communication methods, including a new video podcast series called “The Epic Guys with Stu and Stair”. Also, there will be a dedicated Epic newsletter and virtual meetings called Epic Fireside Chats.
The new ACMIOs emphasize the significance of a unified platform, noting that every patient, provider, and staff member will be profoundly affected by the Epic implementation.
“Right now, we have a number of entities under the UAB name that, in the context of EHR communications and sharing, simply cannot talk to each other,” Dr. Booth said. “We already have hundreds of people, from all of our entities, working every day to create ‘One Epic’ for patients and providers. That’s never been done, so we find this change very challenging but also very exciting for all of us.”