Inside Epic Programs’ legendary campus, a world away from Wall Avenue

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An indication on campus reads “Epic Intergalactic Headquarters.”

Epic programs

Dorothy Gale was proper — the Land of Oz isn’t in Kansas. It’s within the rolling inexperienced fields of Verona, Wisconsin, a city of practically 16,400 folks about 10 miles southwest of the state capital, Madison.

Verona is house to the rambling, sprawling 1,670-acre headquarters of Epic Programs, one of many largest privately held U.S. know-how corporations. Epic’s software program is seemingly ubiquitous in hospitals and clinics, and shops the medical information of greater than 280 million folks within the U.S.

Whereas the corporate’s workers have the weighty accountability of growing instruments to assist medical doctors and nurses in offering care to sufferers, Epic staff spend their days out and in of places of work that appear like they have been plucked straight from a science fiction novel or youngsters’s guide.

A yellow brick highway impressed by The Wizard of Oz winds via the halls of a glittering, emerald constructing. Big chocolate chips mark the doorway to the chocolate manufacturing facility, and a mischievous cat grins via the window of a constructing guarded by life-size taking part in playing cards.

The Oz workplace constructing on Epic’s campus.

Because of: Epic Programs

Final week, 1000’s of healthcare executives gathered on Epic’s sprawling campus for the corporate’s annual assembly. Person Group Assemblypartly to listen to about new merchandise and upcoming initiatives. This yr’s theme was “storytime” and Judy Faulknerthe corporate’s 81-year-old CEO took the stage dressed as a swan, full with a plume of feathers in her hair.

Faulkner, a reserved mathematician who based Epic in a basement in 1979, informed the viewers that the encircling buildings and their repairs account for 8% of the corporate’s complete prices. However she made the apparent level: It’s far cheaper for Epic to purchase land and construct in Verona than in a tech hub like San Francisco, Seattle or New York. And on this small Midwestern city, the corporate is much faraway from the distractions of the massive metropolis.

“Most of us in software program growth are avid readers of science fiction books,” Faulkner mentioned throughout her keynote.

The Wizards Academy campus.

Because of: Epic Programs

For public market traders, Epic has all the time been a little bit of a fantasy.

The corporate, with its 14,000 workers, follows no predetermined finances, has made zero acquisitions and has by no means accepted funding from enterprise capitalists. It abides by its personal set of Ten Commandments, based on its web site, the primary of which is: “Do not go public.”

Epic generated $4.9 billion in income final yr. Cerner, Epic’s largest rival within the digital well being information market, went public in 1986 and was acquired by Oracle in 2022 for greater than $28 billion. In line with Oracle Monetary KnowledgeCerner contributed $5.9 billion in income in fiscal 2023.

The S&P 500 sub-index of software program and companies corporations trades for 9 occasions income. On common, that might give Epic a valuation of about $45 billion.

Faulkner does not like a Cerner-like end result. In spite of everything, Epic’s second commandment is “be not acquired.”

“Why would you allow the corporate within the fingers of people who find themselves primarily within the return on fairness?” Faulkner mentioned on stage final week.

Whenever you go to Epic’s campus, it turns into clear that the corporate exists in a really totally different universe than Wall Avenue.

Every of Epic’s 28 workplace buildings has a theme. They’re clustered into mini-campuses, with names like Prairie Campus, Farm Campus, Central Park Campus, Wizards Academy Campus and Storybook Campus. The buildings have turn out to be more and more ornate through the years, necessitating some negotiating with architects, based on Epic’s web site.

Convention room chairs match the intricate themes of their buildings. And whereas the campus’ dinosaurs, armor and dealing carousel are enjoyable to look at, additionally they serve a function. Faulkner says her plan was to create a pleasant surroundings that might appeal to and encourage expertise and guarantee her workers had the quiet house they wanted to be productive, based on a collection of testimonials on Epic’s web site.

“We’re competing with massive tech corporations,” Faulkner mentioned in a deposition. “These options assist us rent the most effective folks we are able to. That helps us be extra productive.”

An aerial view of Epic’s campus.

Epic programs

Faulkner says that particular person places of work ought to be out there to any worker who desires one. As a result of the overwhelming majority of the corporate’s workers involves the headquarters each day, some persons are doing double obligation, as recruitment usually outpaces development.

These seeking to escape the workplace altogether can hop on one of many firm’s 600 cow-shaped bicycles and trip from a tree home to conferences, slide down a rabbit gap or have lunch in a prepare automotive.

An underground universe

Epic’s deal with offers the primary clue to its underworld existence. The corporate is positioned at 1979 Milky Method, a nod to the date of its founding and Faulkner’s affinity for a celestial theme.

Guests are greeted by an indication that reads “Epic Intergalactic Headquarters” as they drive alongside a highway that winds between buildings and huge inexperienced fields. About 750 acres of Epic’s campus are energetic farmland, house to 42 sheep, 14 cows and a donkey.

Many of the firm’s parking garages are underground, which helps preserve a powerful, top-down really feel to the campus. It additionally means workers don’t have to fret about scraping snow or ice off their vehicles in the course of the harsh Midwestern winter.

Even once they’re not parking, workers aren’t any strangers to the underground. The campus’ buildings are related by a community of tunnels and coated skyways, so folks don’t should step exterior to journey between them.

The outside of Epic’s Deep Area auditorium.

Because of: Epic Programs

Workers are additionally required to attend a month-to-month workers assembly in an underground auditorium referred to as Deep Area. The conferences final about two hours and workers current tasks and talk about trade tendencies.

In addition they all the time embody a grammar lesson, Faulkner informed the Customers Group Assembly within the auditorium, which opened in 2013 and seats about 11,400 folks. The house is a feat of engineering, with no pillars holding it up.

To succeed in Deep Area, guests should descend via ranges of the Earth. The totally different ranges of the constructing are referred to as Sky, Grass, Grime, Rock, Magma and Core. The foyer exterior the auditorium is impressed by the collection “The Lord of the Rings” and the phrase “treasured” is scrawled ominously on the wall in big, glowing pink letters.

Sci-fi references are all over the place. There’s a cafeteria referred to as 42, which is the reply to the query about life, the universe and all the things in “The Hitchhiker’s Information to the Galaxy.” The Wizards Academy campus is clearly impressed by “Harry Potter,” with its personal King’s Cross prepare station, a large chess set and a group of unruly portraits.

Epic is constructing a model new campus on the identical web site, impressed by epic fantasies like “Recreation of Thrones” and “Star Wars.” The cranes have been adorned with big kites that soared excessive above the campus throughout final week’s occasion.

Epic’s Endor Treehouse.

Because of: Epic Programs

Whereas every workplace constructing has its personal distinctive theme, the skeleton of the bodily buildings could be very comparable. Lengthy workplace corridors are punctuated by a single convention room, and most buildings aren’t any increased than three tales, a design alternative Faulkner says is meant to encourage face-to-face conferences.

The Prairie Campus, house to Epic’s oldest places of work, options buildings named after celestial our bodies akin to stars, planets and galaxies.

On the Storybook Campus, the Thriller constructing seems to be like an previous mansion, the place you’ll be able to simply think about Sherlock Holmes strolling via the hallways. The Castaway constructing seems to be like a ship and its inside is stuffed with nautical decorations.

The partitions in lots of buildings are embellished from ground to ceiling, with trinkets, ceramics, mosaics and work by native artists on show all through.

A snowy day on Epic’s campus.

Epic programs

As I walked across the grounds in the course of the Customers Group Assembly, I nearly forgot that Epic is a software program firm.

However past the fantasy campus, medical professionals and their sufferers have very actual wants for this huge know-how supplier. And there are many very actual critics.

Epic has been accused for years of dragging its toes on interoperability initiatives that might streamline the change of affected person knowledge between distributors.

Healthcare knowledge within the U.S. has traditionally been fragmented and tough to maneuver, as clinics, hospitals and well being programs can retailer their data in several codecs with dozens of various distributors. The info can be protected by federal legal guidelines such because the Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.

Oracle, now Epic’s largest rival, says Epic is fiercely protecting of its turf. In a Could weblog put upOracle Govt Vice President Ken Glueck wrote that “everybody within the trade understands that Epic CEO Judy Faulkner is the most important impediment to EHR interoperability.”

Epic has not too long ago been serving to the federal authorities arrange a data-sharing community referred to as the Trusted Change Framework and Frequent Settlement, or TEFCA, which goals to easy out each the authorized and technical necessities for sharing affected person knowledge at scale. Epic mentioned final month that it plans to maneuver all of its prospects to TEFCA by the top of subsequent yr.

However the firm nonetheless plans to make use of its huge personal community. At its Customers Group Assembly, Epic introduced a lot of new generative synthetic intelligence options for its Cosmos platform, an anonymized affected person dataset that clinicians can use to tell remedies and conduct analysis.

Seth Hain, Epic’s senior vice chairman of analysis and growth, spoke to reporters after the keynote in a convention room arrange like a lodge. Hain had simply given the viewers a stilted demo wherein an AI agent assessed his restoration from alleged wrist surgical procedure by cross-referencing knowledge from Cosmos.

He mentioned such instruments might be prepared inside a couple of years.

“The know-how is growing in a short time,” Hain mentioned.

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Inside Epic Programs’ legendary campus, a world away from Wall Avenue

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