Patients receiving care at Sinai Health and Unity Health Toronto are expected to benefit from easier sharing of their health information under a partnership to bring the hospital networks onto a shared electronic patient record system.
According to a Unity Health Toronto announcement, Sinai Health will adopt the Epic system already used by Unity Health. The organizations say the arrangement is intended to improve access to patient information, help care teams coordinate treatment and simplify work across the two networks.
Unity Health introduced Epic across St. Joseph’s Health Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital and Providence Healthcare in November 2024. Its experience implementing the system will help guide Sinai Health’s transition, with the partners drawing on lessons from that rollout and other shared Epic arrangements in Ontario.
The partnership follows a provincial government direction issued last year asking hospitals to pursue shared electronic patient record environments instead of separate systems, according to the announcement.
For Sinai Health, the change is intended to bring work now spread across multiple applications into a single integrated system.
“Today at Sinai Health, teams are working across many different applications, which adds complexity and administrative burden,” Jane Merkley, Sinai Health’s executive vice-president, chief nursing executive and chief operating officer, said in the Unity Health Toronto announcement.
Merkley said the organization expects the integrated system to help staff make informed decisions and improve the experience of both patients and care teams.
Unity Health’s existing Epic system includes tools that let hospital patients view their health information and carry out care-related tasks while at their bedsides. The organization says it was the first in Canada to introduce MyChart Bedside.
Unity Health also says it was the first organization in Ontario to connect Epic with Toronto Paramedic Services. That connection allows paramedics to securely pass along patient information collected before arrival at hospital, giving care teams earlier access to details relevant to treatment.
The announcement says Unity Health’s support is expected to help Sinai Health pursue similar improvements as it implements the shared system. The organizations describe better coordination and a more personalized patient and family experience as goals of the partnership.
The provincially supported initiative is also intended to inform guidance for other hospitals undertaking shared-system implementations.
Once Sinai Health’s implementation is complete, the partners say the shared environment will continue to develop across both organizations, with secure information sharing and continuity of patient care remaining priorities.