This article is in response to Becker’s Healthcare article, “Epic Community Connect, explained: The tradeoffs for smaller systems,” published June 11, 2026
A recent Becker’s Healthcare article highlighted the growing role of Epic Community Connect among smaller hospitals and health systems. The article explored both the advantages of the model and the tradeoffs organizations face when joining an Epic environment managed by a larger health system.
According to the article, Community Connect accounted for nearly 70% of EHR decisions among smaller hospitals in 2024. That’s a remarkable number and it speaks to the challenges many community and rural hospitals face when evaluating technology investments.
As healthcare organizations continue to navigate financial pressures, staffing challenges, and increasing technology demands, Community Connect is becoming an attractive option for many hospitals that want access to Epic without the cost and complexity of managing a standalone implementation.
The article does an excellent job of outlining both the appeal and the tradeoffs of the model.
Why Community Connect Continues to Grow
For many smaller healthcare organizations, the appeal is straightforward.
Epic is widely recognized as one of the leading EHR platforms in the industry, but the cost of implementation, maintenance, infrastructure, and ongoing support can be difficult for smaller organizations to absorb independently.
Community Connect changes that equation.
By joining an Epic environment managed by a larger health system, smaller hospitals gain access to enterprise-level technology without taking on the full burden of ownership. As Becker’s points out, many organizations simply would not be able to pursue Epic without this model.
For rural hospitals, critical access hospitals, and community health organizations operating under increasing financial pressure, that’s a significant advantage.
The Tradeoff Becker’s Rightly Highlights
What makes the Becker’s article particularly valuable is its focus on what recipient organizations give up in exchange for lower costs and easier access.
Community Connect is not the same as owning and operating your own Epic environment.
The host organization controls much of the underlying infrastructure, system governance, upgrades, and broader configuration decisions. While recipient organizations can tailor certain workflows, they often operate within standards established by the host health system.
This arrangement creates consistency and efficiency, but it can also limit flexibility.
For some organizations, that’s a perfectly acceptable tradeoff.
For others, it requires a shift in mindset.
The question becomes less about “How do we implement Epic?” and more about “How do we maximize success within a shared environment?”
Technology Is Only Part of the Equation
One takeaway from the Becker’s article is that gaining access to Epic is only the beginning of the journey.
Whether an organization operates a standalone Epic environment or participates through Community Connect, long-term success depends on much more than technology.
Workflow design, user adoption, operational efficiency, revenue cycle performance, and ongoing optimization ultimately determine whether the investment delivers meaningful value.
In many cases, these areas have a greater impact on outcomes than the software itself.
Organizations that focus solely on implementation often miss opportunities to improve performance after go-live.
The Next Conversation Healthcare Leaders Should Be Having
As Community Connect adoption continues to grow, healthcare leaders should expand the discussion beyond access and affordability.
Questions worth asking include:
- Are our workflows aligned with best practices?
- Are we fully utilizing the capabilities available to us?
- Are we maximizing revenue cycle performance?
- Are staff members comfortable and efficient within the system?
- Do we have a strategy for ongoing optimization?
These are the questions that ultimately determine return on investment.
The LRCS Perspective
At LRCS, we believe Community Connect is creating meaningful opportunities for smaller healthcare organizations that may not otherwise have access to enterprise-level technology. At the same time, we recognize that access alone does not guarantee success.
This is where execution becomes critical.
Organizations that join an Epic Community Connect environment still face the same core challenges: optimizing revenue cycle performance, ensuring clean and efficient workflows, reducing administrative burden, improving documentation quality, and helping staff fully adopt and consistently use the system in a way that supports both clinical and financial outcomes.
That is where LRCS can help.
LRCS Epic Resolute Training supports Community Connect organizations by equipping revenue cycle teams with the knowledge, tools, and operational best practices needed to maximize the value of their shared Epic environment. Through a combination of revenue cycle expertise, workflow evaluation, and performance improvement guidance, LRCS helps users strengthen billing and coding processes, enhance denial management, improve charge capture accuracy, and support ongoing revenue integrity initiatives. The training is designed to help Community Connect partners optimize daily operations, increase efficiency, and achieve measurable financial and operational outcomes within the constraints of a hosted Epic platform.
Beyond revenue cycle performance, LRCS also focuses on the broader operational picture, helping organizations evaluate how effectively teams are using the system day-to-day, where inefficiencies are emerging, and how to align workflows more closely with best practices that support both clinical efficiency and financial sustainability.
Importantly, Community Connect does not eliminate the need for continuous improvement, it increases the importance of it. As systems evolve and host organizations update configurations, smaller hospitals need a partner who can help them adapt, optimize, and stay aligned with both Epic capabilities and organizational goals.
Learn more about LRCS at LRCS.
Ultimately, the Becker’s article highlights an important industry shift: more organizations now have access to Epic through Community Connect than ever before. The next step is ensuring those organizations are fully equipped to turn that access into lasting operational and financial performance.
Because in today’s healthcare environment, success is not defined by having the right system, it’s defined by how effectively organizations use it.
