Judy Faulkner Net Worth

What is Judy Faulkner's Net Worth?

Judith Faulkner is an American billionaire businesswoman who has a net worth of $8 billion. That makes her one of the richest women in the world and one of the richest people in Wisconsin.

Judith Faulkner is the founder and CEO of Epic Systems, a healthcare software company based in Verona, Wisconsin. The company develops, manufactures, licenses, and sells its proprietary electronic health record software, which is used in the majority of hospitals and medical schools in the United States.

Early Life and Education

Judith Faulkner was born on August 11, 1943 to Del and Louis, both of whom were involved in healthcare. Her mother served as the director of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, while her father worked as a pharmacist. Faulkner was raised in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and attended the Quaker day school Moorestown Friends School. After graduating in 1961, she enrolled at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where she earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics. Faulkner went on to obtain a master's degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

(Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

Epic Systems

In 1979, with a $70,000 investment, Faulkner founded the healthcare software company Human Services Computing. The company was later renamed Epic Systems. Originally based in Madison, Wisconsin, Epic moved its headquarters to Verona in 2005. The company is known for the development, manufacture, licensing, and sale of its proprietary electronic health record software, which is reportedly used by the majority of hospitals and medical schools in the United States. The software holds the medical records of around 150 million patients in the country. Epic also offers a number of data resources and analytic tools, including the real-time database Chronicles, the relational database Clarity, and the enterprise data warehouse platform Caboodle. The company employs around 13,000 people, and has a main campus consisting of various themed areas and buildings, including one inspired by "Harry Potter." Beyond its headquarters, Epic has offices in such countries as the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Australia.

Epic has been controversial for many reasons, including its strategies of profit maximization and data sharing and its overall anti-competitive bent. According to Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect magazine, the company's dominance over the market is driven by the ability of its software to maximize hospital profits via upcoding, which is a form of healthcare fraud. Kuttner has also revealed that training providers on the Epic software is time-consuming and fatigue-inducing, leading to burnout and premature retirements. Additionally, there have been numerous reports of difficulties with implementing the software, causing severe instability within hospitals while jeopardizing patient safety. Many providers have found the Epic software overly complicated and unsatisfactory. The company was also heavily criticized during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it called for 10,000 employees to return to on-campus work.

Personal Life

With her husband Dr. Gordon Faulkner, a pediatrician, Judith Faulkner has three children. In 2019, the couple founded the Roots & Wings Foundation to fund nonprofits that support underserved children and their families. Faulkner has also signed the Giving Pledge, in which she commits to donate the majority of her wealth to philanthropic causes.

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