November 30, 2023
A new network analysis found that OCHIN Epic members’ swift and thorough vaccination response during the COVID-19 pandemic saved lives, prevented hospitalizations, and minimized lost workdays for patients inside and outside of the OCHIN network—ultimately resulting in $31 billion in estimated savings.
“We are grateful for the work of OCHIN members every day, but their dedication to their patients and wider communities when the stakes were highest helped save thousands of lives and supported the continued prosperity of their communities,” said Abby Sears, president and CEO of OCHIN.
Despite scarce resources, including both staff and COVID-19 vaccines, OCHIN members expanded vaccine outreach and availability for systemically marginalized communities at a time when they were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. For example, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders were among the most likely to test positive, while Black patients had the highest COVID-19 mortality rates in the country. In our own network, Hispanic and Latino patients were about twice as likely as white patients to have a COVID-19 diagnosis.
OCHIN’s 215 ambulatory members during the pandemic played a key role in ensuring the full vaccination status of more than 2.6 million patients, including the distribution of 347,517 vaccine doses to non-regular patients across 27 states. From December 2020 to July 2023, the analysis of OCHIN network data found that these vaccination efforts resulted in:
COVID-19 cases prevented
deaths prevented
hospitalizations prevented
lost workdays prevented
OCHIN Epic provided the interoperable electronic health records (EHR) platform needed to efficiently support the national vaccine rollout and enabled providers to expand their reach and vaccinate people at locations that were convenient to them. Seamless data exchange between health care providers inside and outside the OCHIN network helped ensure timely treatment and vaccine follow up throughout the pandemic—and even today.
In addition to keeping patients healthy and promoting public health, the protective effects of COVID-19 vaccination efforts across the OCHIN network are estimated to have had a collective economic impact of $31.3 billion.
