Katie's one-on-one with Judy Faulkner of Epic Systems

Next Question with Katie Couric

Katie Couric Media

News, Health, Society & Culture, Commentary, Documentary,, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Judy Faulkner runs a company whose software touches nearly every American's medical records. Katie traveled to Epic's sprawling, whimsical campus in Verona, Wisconsin to sit down with Judy Faulkner, the 82-year-old founder and CEO who's been at the helm for nearly 50 years. Judy talks about the living-room moment she cracked the code for electronic health records, why being one of three women in a room of 200 men turned out to be a competitive advantage, and how Epic's AI tools are quietly transforming what happens in the exam room. Katie also presses her on the hard stuff: the monopoly accusations, the non-compete clauses, the antitrust suits, and why Judy has pledged to give 99% of her wealth away while some of America's biggest tech billionaires have given far less.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You solved a math problem in your classroom and kind of realized that you were good at math.
0:14.5	I do remember that was the highlight of my life, which means I didn't have a very interesting life, right?
0:22.4	But it would be going in to class every day and seeing the new problem put on the board.
0:28.4	That was so much fun.
0:31.2	Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric, and this is Next Question.
0:36.8	Hi, everyone.
0:38.0	I am very excited to be recording this episode of my podcast, Next Question, at Ethics
0:44.8	headquarters here in Verona, Wisconsin, in your very own theater, which seats 6,000 people.
0:51.9	And today, you did a really nice job of filling it up. So give yourselves a round of
0:56.6	applause, please.
1:02.8	One of the reasons I wanted to come to Verona is to interview the most successful founder and
1:09.6	CEO you've never heard of. Well, all of you have
1:13.5	heard of her, clearly, but I suspect many of my listeners and viewers haven't. Judy Faulkner has been at
1:21.0	the helm of this company for nearly 50 years, and she has built a behemoth. You'd probably
1:27.1	recognize the epic logo from your doctor's
1:29.8	office, or maybe you've heard of my chart. Well, that's all Judy. Epic Software runs in 3,500
1:36.2	hospitals, 85,000 clinics by 760,000 physicians nationwide, and is the largest bank of in-depth population health data in the
1:48.4	entire world. So I'm so excited to learn more about this company, to learn more about you all
1:55.4	here today. So please welcome Judy Faulkner.
2:07.8	Thank you.
2:12.6	As a piece in the New York Times put it,
2:15.4	who was this publicity-shy yet spectacle-loving CEO? And how did her
	...

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