Case Study: Dartmouth-Hitchcock achieves a seamless Epic EHR launch and consolidated ITSM with Cherwell Software

Leading healthcare provider consolidates ITSM systems, supports major EHR launch

Dartmouth‑Hitchcock is a large non‑profit health system handling about 1.7 million outpatient visits, 31,000 emergency visits, and 20,000 surgeries annually. Facing regulatory and operational pressure from the Affordable Care Act and an impending move to the Epic electronic health record (EHR), the organization needed to eliminate paper and fragmented point‑of‑care systems—but with twelve separate incident management tools and two regional help desks, it lacked the capacity to support the expected post‑launch surge and ongoing operations.

Dartmouth‑Hitchcock implemented Cherwell Service Management for its configurable ITIL modules and affordability, stood up a 100‑person command center (20 teams of five) to provide 24/7 coverage for the Epic rollout weekend, and began consolidating legacy systems across departments. The launch proceeded on schedule with no disruption to patient care; the organization supported a single‑day launch of 14 EHR applications, unified siloed teams to improve communications, extended the platform to affiliates to enable a population‑based model, and now manages large operational volumes (550,000 tickets serviced, 26,000 change requests, 60,000 CMDB records).

Dartmouth-Hitchcock

Bill Weyrick

Director of Information Systems