Planning for Success: The Role of Legacy Data Strategy in Epic Community Connect
Epic Community Connect has become a proven model for extending world-class EHR capabilities across affiliated organizations. For health systems and their partners, the focus is rightly on successful onboarding, clinical integration, and long-term alignment.
But the organizations that see the greatest return on their investment are the ones that plan beyond go-live—ensuring their legacy data strategy is aligned from the start.
Why Legacy Data Strategy Matters Early
Joining or hosting a Community Connect program is a major milestone. It requires coordination across clinical, operational, and technical teams.
In many cases, however, legacy systems are treated as a secondary consideration—something to address after onboarding is complete.
The result?
- Legacy systems remain active longer than expected
- Costs continue to accumulate
- Data access becomes fragmented across platforms
A proactive strategy ensures that legacy data is handled with the same level of rigor as the Epic implementation itself.
The Budgeting Reality
Epic implementations are carefully scoped and budgeted.
Legacy data, on the other hand, is often underestimated.
Without a clear plan, organizations may face:
- Ongoing licensing and maintenance costs
- Unexpected support requirements
- Extended timelines for system retirement
Successful organizations take a comprehensive view—planning for Epic, conversion, and archiving together to avoid surprises later.
Coordinating Across the Network
Community Connect introduces a unique challenge:
multiple organizations, each with their own systems, data structures, and timelines.
Leading health systems establish a consistent approach that:
- Aligns affiliates on data strategy early
- Supports phased onboarding
- Enables repeatable, scalable processes
This becomes especially important when onboarding dozens of locations over time.
Supporting Rolling Go-Lives
Community Connect is not a single event—it’s an ongoing process.
As new organizations join, data must be managed in parallel with onboarding efforts.
In one large-scale initiative, data from 95 facilities and over 2,000 providers was successfully migrated and archived through a phased approach that aligned with Community Connect onboarding timelines.
This kind of coordination ensures that data remains accessible while legacy systems can be retired efficiently.
What “Good” Looks Like
Organizations that get this right share a few common traits:
- Legacy data strategy defined early in the project
- Budget allocated across the full lifecycle
- Clear plan for system retirement
- Consistent approach across affiliates
Most importantly, they view data strategy as an extension of their Epic strategy—not a separate initiative.
Epic Community Connect enables powerful collaboration and scalability.
A well-planned legacy data strategy ensures that success continues long after go-live—reducing cost, simplifying operations, and preserving access to critical information.
[CTA: Download the Epic Community Connect Data Strategy Checklist]
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