Case Study: UNC Health Care achieves faster access, interoperability and cost savings with Hyland Healthcare

UNC Health Revamps Its Enterprise Technology, Improving Access, Timeliness and Interoperability

UNC Health, an expanding not-for-profit system based in Chapel Hill, faced fragmented imaging and growing IT complexity as it grew from a few hospitals and clinics into a network of more than 15 hospitals and 700+ clinics. Imaging data sat in dozens of siloed PACS and nearly 200 interfaces, causing delayed consults, repeat imaging, CD-based image sharing, weak disaster recovery and no enterprise image lifecycle policy.

In a nine-month initiative UNC retired a dozen legacy PACS, standardized platforms, went live on Epic and deployed Hyland’s Acuo VNA and NilRead viewer to consolidate images into a vendor‑neutral archive with universal viewing. The move eliminated CD-based workflows, avoided repeat scans, enabled patient access via MyChart, and centralized unstructured content with OCR and automated workflows—storing 21 million images (with volumes tripling) while reducing costs, speeding care and helping UNC achieve HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 certifications.

UNC Health Care

Don Spencer

Chief Medical Informatics Officer