Page 3 of 5: Message from the President and CEO: Unity Health marks exciting milestone in electronic patient record project

Dear Unity Health staff, physicians, learners and volunteers,

When Unity Health established our first strategic plan in 2019, we committed to transforming our digital infrastructure to create the best care experiences for our patients, residents, families and community members. A crucial piece of this work is the implementation of a new network-wide electronic patient record (EPR) system that supports multiple care environments, from home to hospital and community.

I’m pleased to share that after a robust engagement and procurement process, Unity Health has signed a contract with Epic Systems, a leading health care software company, to provide our new EPR system. The implementation of our new EPR system will set the foundation for transforming clinical care and improve the way that teams engage and connect with patients and families. This system will be pivotal in accelerating our advanced analytics program.

This is a significant milestone in this major change initiative. Thank you to the over 500 staff, physicians, learners and patient and family partners from across Unity Health who were involved in the procurement process, volunteering your time and sharing your feedback. I also want to thank our EPR project team, our Executive Committee and our Unity Health Board of Directors for your work and guidance. We’re confident that Epic’s systems are best suited to meet Unity Health’s strategic objectives and clinical requirements.

Over the next 18 months, Unity Health and Epic will work together to build and implement our new EPR system, with a tentative go live date in late 2024 or early 2025. We’re committed to employing an equity lens to this project, building and implementing a system that recognizes the various ways in which different patient populations engage with their care.

The implementation will also include considerable work to replace and consolidate many of our existing systems into a single health record. Engagement from clinical and support teams will be critical as we move through this process. We look forward to implementing a system that’s designed by clinicians for clinicians, with a focus on improving workflows, efficiencies and most importantly, patient care.

This is a significant moment in the integration journey that we’ve been on these past five years. Today, we move one step closer to transforming the care experience at Unity Health, guided by our vision of what we aspire to deliver to everyone we serve: The best care experiences. Created together.

For more information on our EPR project, please visit the EPR project page on UnityNet or check out this web story. Please also stay tuned for updates in Twice a Week, including the winner of our project naming and branding contest. Thank you for your cooperation and support as we advance this exciting project over the next two years.

Sincerely,

Tim Rutledge
President and CEO
Unity Health Toronto