Lakeridge Health Oshawa heading up ‘Epic’ shared information partnership with other east Ontario hospitals

Seven partner hospital organizations, representing 14 hospitals in Central East Ontario, are coming together next week for an ‘Epic’ partnership with a new, digital clinical information system (CIS) that will provide a single, unified personal health record for each patient.

The new Epic CIS will go live December 3 at Campbellford Memorial Hospital, Haliburton Highlands Health Services, Lakeridge Health, Northumberland Hills Hospital, Peterborough Regional Health Centre, Ross Memorial Hospital, and Scarborough Health Network. This collaboration represents the largest number of individual organizations joining together on Epic in Ontario.

“Epic is a gamechanger for Central East Ontario,” said Dr. Ilan Lenga, Chief Information Officer and Chief Medical Information Officer at Lakeridge Health, who is also leading the regional Epic team. “It will vastly improve the way we deliver care across Central East Ontario for generations to come.

Cynthia Davis, President and CEO, Lakeridge Health, said that she was “excited” for next Friday’s launch, calling it the “largest and most transformative project” in Lakeridge Health’s history. “We’re excited because this modern and computer-based personal health record will usher in a new era for the way care is delivered across the region. A single personal health record that follows patients will not only enable the safest and highest quality of care, but also vastly improve the patient experience and enable Lakeridge Health to advance our vision of One System. Best Health.”

Epic will provide health-care teams with the tools they need to better collaborate across the region and enable them to make the best possible decisions about an individual’s care and treatment. In addition, there will be increased access to real-time information that will help to improve patient outcomes, and access to standardized tools and processes that will reduce duplication, streamline processes, and improve results.

The launch of Epic will also include a new MyChart Central East Ontario patient portal that is integrated with the Epic system. This free, secure, online portal will allow patients to access their medical records and personal health information. Patients can register for the new MyChart patient portal beginning December 3 by visiting mychart.ourepic.ca.

“As our teams transition to this faster, safer, and better way to deliver care, patients and families may initially notice longer than usual wait times and some processes that are done differently,” explained Lenga. “We appreciate our community’s patience and understanding as our teams make this important change to serve them better.”

Epic is one of the world’s largest electronic health records software companies. Their best-in-class CIS has been adopted by hundreds of leading hospitals in North America and Europe, including the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, The Ottawa Hospital, SickKids, and others.