Maximize the Value of Your Transition: How Luma Supported Northfield’s Journey from MEDITECH Client Server to Expanse

Transitioning from MEDITECH Client Server to Expanse is a significant milestone. While it promises enhanced functionality and a modernized user experience, the migration process can be complex and resource-intensive, particularly for regional hospitals with small IT teams. 

However, your transition doesn’t have to mean putting critical patient engagement initiatives on hold.

Northfield Hospital + Clinics faced this very challenge. Relying on manual calling to reach patients meant high no-show rates and scrambles to contact large groups of patients during Minnesota winter weather. Rather than waiting until their Expanse migration was complete, they made Luma part of their roadmap  to Expanse — and it paid off.

Why Wait? Northfield’s Decision to Upgrade the Patient Experience Before Migrating to MEDITECH Expanse

When Northfield signed on with Luma, they were still operating on MEDITECH Client Server and planning a migration to Expanse. At that time, Client Server offered limited integration options, lacking the  APIs available in Expanse. But for Northfield, the need for effective patient communication was too urgent to delay.

“We needed something for patient engagement. MEDITECH didn’t have a patient connect module at the time, and we were still making manual calls for almost everything,” said Debbie Oathoudt, ITS Manager at Northfield. “We live in Minnesota and weather incidents are common. Knowing that patients often don’t answer the phone, we wanted to send broadcast messages and use chat instead.”

Luma’s flexible platform allowed Northfield to implement automated reminders, broadcast messaging, and patient education campaigns while still on Client Server. When severe weather hit, they quickly notified thousands of patients using Luma’s messaging capabilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Luma helped them manage outreach for vaccine appointments with ease.

Seamless Support During Northfield’s Transition to MEDITECH Expanse

Fast forward to Northfield’s go-live with Expanse, and Luma remained a trusted partner. 

Integrating systems during an EHR migration can strain IT resources. However, Luma’s collaborative approach minimized the burden on Northfield’s small IT team.

“Luma makes it easy. They worked alongside us to understand what we needed to succeed,” said Oathoudt. “Luma’s integration was very clear and simple, so we were able to focus on the migration to Expanse.”

The benefits Northfield had already seen from going live with Luma on MEDITECH Client Server were crucial as they migrated to MEDITECH Expanse.

For a few weeks after going live with Expanse, Northfield paused Luma to allow staff to adjust to the new EHR – and the absence of automated patient engagement was keenly felt.

“Providers noticed the difference almost immediately,“ Oathoudt recalled. “Our no-show rates went up, and staff were calling me and asking when Luma would be back.”

Once Expanse was live and stable, Luma and Northfield worked together to relaunch and expand their use of the platform. With the Expanse APIs in place, Northfield unlocked even more powerful capabilities, including empowering patients to self-schedule their appointments at Northfield locations from Northfield’s website, patient’s mobile device or even a Google search.

Northfield’s Customer Success Manager at Luma, Luis Hernandez, emphasized the importance of partnership. “The Northfield team have been true collaborators. As soon as Expanse was up and running, they were ready to leverage the Expanse APIs to further improve their patient experience.” 

Oathoudt adds, “We try to be innovative and give our local community a best-in-class experience. Luma has partnered with us to do that, from our Client Server days to now using Expanse.”

Maximize Your Transition with Luma

If your organization is planning a migration to MEDITECH Expanse, there’s no need to wait to solve patient engagement challenges. Partnering with Luma before, during, and after your transition means you can:

• Address immediate needs: Automate reminders, send broadcast messages, and reduce no-shows even on Client Server.
• Minimize IT lift: Change management is always a key challenge, and sometimes it’s better to tackle one big change instead of many smaller ones. Luma’s implementation is straightforward and designed to work with your existing system.
• Scale with confidence: Seamlessly expand your use of Luma’s solutions as you transition to Expanse and gain access to enhanced API functionality.
• Build a lasting partnership: Like Northfield, you’ll have a dedicated team committed to your success every step of the way.

Let Luma help you maximize the value of your EHR transition. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can support your journey.