The Mayo Clinic has been creating medical records for more than 100 years and the latest update to the system costs $1.5 billion and took years to unfurl.

The new Epic software is rolling out at Arizona and Florida Mayo Clinic locations this month.

Among other things, the Plummer Project will consolidate billing and patient medical information into one system. The project's name is a nod to Dr. Henry Plummer who developed Mayo’s early record-keeping.

“By having a unified platform across all of our campuses, it makes that much more efficient and seamless,” said surgical oncologist Richard Gray, who co-chairs the Plummer Project. 

Mayo reports about 100,00 patients visit its Arizona locations each year. The new system will allow them to check into appointments electronically, and change their records ahead of their visit.

“That’s not so say that it’s not difficult on staff,”  Gray said.

He said there have been some longer wait times and those were met with increased staffing. The system should be fully in place by the end of the month.

KJZZ's Claire Caulfield contributed to this story.

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