Legacy launches new inpatient laboratory information system on Aug. 1

On August 1, Legacy Health goes live with Epic Beaker, our new inpatient laboratory information system, replacing Cerner Lab and MediCopia. Because Beaker is built within Epic, lab data will live entirely inside the platform you already use every day.

This change applies to inpatient labs only — ambulatory workflows with LabCorp are unchanged.

What’s changing

• Critical results generate an automatic push notification sent to all nurses currently signed into the patient's care team in Hyperspace.
  • Any recipient can acknowledge the result, taking responsibility for notifying the covering provider
  • The acknowledgment and who performed it are visible to all other recipients.
  • If no one acknowledges within 10 minutes, the lab calls the unit, consistent with the current process.
• An add-on feature checks whether a viable specimen already exists for a patient, so a new test can sometimes be added to an existing sample instead of ordering another stick.
• A new Lab Testing Tracker gives real-time, in-chart visibility into exactly what stage an order is at.
• In the ED, the old "rainbow draw" approach is being replaced with order-based collection, so only the tubes needed for ordered tests are drawn, with full chain-of-custody tracking.
• System preference lists will be updated before go-live, but individual/personal order favorites will not

What stays the same

• Lab orders are still placed the same way, through the Epic order composer and order sets.
• Test results will continue to display in the same location and folder structure in Results Review as they do today
• Ambulatory workflows with LabCorp remain unchanged.

Go-live timeline (overnight, August 1)

• 12:01–3:00 a.m.: IT completes final system checks; lab operates on Cerner as usual.
• 3:00–4:00 a.m.: Order downtime — physicians and APPs cannot place orders in Epic. STAT orders follow standard downtime procedures.
• 4:00 a.m.: Legacy is live on Beaker — ordering resumes and collections use Beaker labels.

How to prepare

• Anticipate clinical needs and place time-sensitive lab orders before 3:00 a.m. where possible.
• For true emergencies during downtime, call the lab directly — critical value protocols are unchanged.
• Super Users will be at all units starting at go-live, and the Epic Help Desk is available 24/7.
• Expect slightly longer turnaround times for the first 48–72 hours as staff adjusts.
• Review and update your individual/personal order preference list after go-live.

Resources

For more information, see the Epic Beaker FAQ and Go Live Overview. These materials as well as other resources are also available on the Beaker SharePoint site.