Part of Lahey Health layoffs due to cost of EHR rollout

On Wednesday, Burlington, Mass.-based Lahey Health announced it is laying off 130 people at three hospitals to help close the budget gap. In the six months ended March 31, Lahey Health reported losing $21 million, partly due to lost business during the winter's fierce snowstorms and partly due to its EHR implementation, which cost the system more than it expected, according to a Boston Globe report. Joanne Conroy, MD, CEO of Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, told Boston Business Journal the hospital was completing a two-year process of implementing Epic's EHR and patient portal, a project costing the hospital $160 million. "What we've found in the last quarter, which is our triple whammy, is we have a lot of training costs, which are necessary before you go live," Dr. Conroy said.