Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare in La Crosse has become the inaugural location for a billion-dollar electronic health record and billing system for Mayo Clinic Health System’s nationwide network.

Mayo-Franciscan went live Saturday with the Epic records system, which will spread to all Mayo sites by the end of next year.

“This is a very big switch for us, going to a single system for the entire Mayo enterprise,” said Tim Johnson, who works at Mayo-Franciscan in La Crosse as regional vice president for Mayo Clinic in Southwest Wisconsin.

The joint planning process began 2½ years ago to design and incorporate the system of Verona-based Epic, Johnson said during an interview Wednesday. Read the full story here.