The Pathology Workflow Layer That Makes Epic Beaker Deliver

When Stamford Health moved its anatomic pathology operation from Meditech to Epic Beaker, the department did what most pathology teams do before an enterprise system change: it braced for disruption. Epic is a formidable enterprise EHR, and it runs the system of record for the whole health system — but the narrative pathology report, the gross description, the microscopic, the final diagnosis, is a different kind of work from enterprise documentation, and pathology teams feel that difference acutely.

"We were very anxious about the Epic transition," recalls Dr. Robert Babkowski, Chair of Pathology at Stamford Health. "Nearby hospitals who've transitioned to Beaker have had challenging experiences." 

 Voicebrook has long believed that a smooth pathology transition isn't about replacing the workflow pathologists depend on — it's about carrying it forward. Epic provides the enterprise foundation; VoiceOver PRO provides the pathology-specific reporting layer that sits on top of it. At Stamford, that combination is what turned an anxious migration into an uneventful one. 

Continuity Is the Point

Much of the credit belongs to a single, underrated idea: continuity. Because Stamford's pathologists kept VoiceOver PRO through the move, the tools they had built their days around didn't reset on go-live day.

"With VoiceOver PRO, our templates stayed the same, the commands stayed the same," says Dr. Elgida Volpicelli, a pathologist at Stamford Health. "It made our transition very easy, very fast to learn, and overall, a great experience."

Without PRO, she notes, she would have had to rebuild her templates and commands from scratch — a steep second learning curve stacked on top of an already demanding system change. 

Where the Hours Are Recovered

That continuity matters most in the part of the day that matters most: building the report. VoiceOver PRO keeps the pathologist working in one pathology interface, moving through a case by voice instead of clicking between fields.

"A lot of times I'll dictate the top line diagnosis, and then I'll say, 'go to micro, insert actinic keratosis' and a canned description of the micro shows up in my report," Volpicelli says. "PRO makes me much faster—not to have to look at the screen, not to have to type it myself."

A few saved seconds on a single case, perhaps — but multiplied across every case, every pathologist, every day, the reporting layer is where the hours are recovered.

Stamford also runs Voicebrook's own eCP capability for its CAP synoptic reporting, which the team has found faster and less error-prone than manual entry for the way they work — one more piece of the pathology workflow that stayed intact through the move. With VoiceOver PRO, Stamford Health pathologists complete CAP eCP checklists 60% faster than with Epic’s native entry tools, while reducing the likelihood of errors.

The Rocky Start That Never Came

Technology carried part of the transition; Voicebrook's team carried the rest. Voicebrook staff were on site for the first three days of go-live, working shoulder to shoulder with the pathologists as they settled into the new environment. For a department that had expected a rocky start, the experience was the opposite. "The Epic and VoiceOver combination is magnificent," Babkowski says. "It's lightning fast."

Dr. Robert Babkowski, using VoiceOver PRO to create patient reports in his Stamford Health office.

The Question Worth Asking

For pathology leaders weighing their own Epic transition, the most useful question isn't whether Epic is capable. It plainly is — it's the backbone the entire enterprise runs on. The sharper question is narrower and more practical: when the build locks in, will the reporting workflow your pathologists rely on still be there on the other side? And will it optimize their efficiency and accuracy?

At Stamford, the answer was yes, because the workflow layer (VoiceOver PRO) came along for the ride.

"VoiceOver PRO standardizes my reporting process in a way that Epic alone cannot do," Babkowski says. "But Epic combined with PRO is wonderful. We all love it."

To see what that transition looked like from planning through go-live, read the full Stamford Case Study.