IRON RIVER – Last year, Northstar Health System entered into a partnership with Aspirus, a Wausau, Wis.-based health system, and became officially acquired in July 2014.

Last fall, other members of the Aspirus system in the Upper Peninsula implemented the leading Electronic Health Record (EHR) system Epic.

This system makes it easy to exchange key medical information across care locations throughout the Aspirus system.

Beginning Aug. 23, Epic will be implemented at Northstar, allowing physicians and clinical staff to access complete patient records and ‘follow’ patients from appointment to appointment, primary care physician to specialist, emergency department to hospital. This will streamline care and help prevent expensive duplication of services.

Pre-registration will become one of the added benefits of implementing Epic at Northstar. Beginning Aug.17, patients with scheduled visits can expect to receive a phone call from Northstar to pre-register them for their upcoming appointment.