Newswise — What started as a simple collaboration between two health care organizations in downtown Toronto less than four years ago has grown to 15 active participants throughout the Greater Toronto Area. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and St. Michael's Hospital are the newest organizations to join Shared Information Management Services (SIMS), an information management and technology (IM/IT) group dedicated to transforming the way health care is delivered.
The group works on integrating projects across all participating organizations, which include acute, rehabilitation, community, complex continuing and long-term care facilities.
"System-wide connectivity is essential for the advancement of health care in our province. For patients, health care is complicated and can be daunting. Ultimately, we all want to provide patients with greater continuity in their care," said Jeff Lozon, President & CEO, St. Michael's Hospital. " Being part of the SIMS partnership means that our clinical staff will have better access to health information about patients who have been treated at the other SIMS partner locations ensuring a smoother health care experience for everyone."
St. Michael's is already actively involved with SIMS on a number of projects, including an emergency room notification system. Sunnybrook brings knowledge and expertise of patient portals to the partnership.
"Sunnybrook sees the SIMS partnership as an excellent way for hospitals and their IT systems to benefit the delivery of patient care," said Dr. Barry McLellan, President & CEO, Sunnybrook. "This partnership can provide patients with unprecedented access to their information through Sunnybrook's MyChartâ„¢ and can help streamline the delivery of care across many of the largest facilities in the Ontario healthcare system."
SIMS Chief Information Officer, Lydia Lee, added, "St. Michael's and Sunnybrook are important referral organizations for many of our existing partners. Their inclusion gives us incredible critical mass to influence change and continue our work collectively towards an electronic health record for all patients," said Lee. "Sunnybrook's work is a complement to the success SIMS has had with our own patient portal initiative."
Other members of the partnership include Bridgepoint Health, Central Community Care Access Centre, COTA Health, North York General Hospital, Providence Healthcare, St. John's Rehab Hospital, St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto Central Community Care Access Centre, Toronto East General Hospital, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network, West Park Healthcare Centre and Women's College Hospital. Each organization is involved with integrating projects across the entire collaboration.
"The participation of Sunnybrook in the SIMS Partnership is another significant step forward for patients who live in both the Central and Toronto Central LHINs, further strengthening inter-LHIN collaboration to better serve patients," said Hy Eliasoph, CEO, Central Local Health Integration Network (LHIN). "It will also further serve to strengthen linkages among acute care and rehabilitation hospitals and community care, enhancing the sharing of more timely, comprehensive and appropriate patient information among health care providers. This is, truly, a win-win situation for patients and providers."
In addition to confidentially sharing patient information online to improve referrals, SIMS partners are enhancing patient safety through the elimination of transcription errors and reducing the amount of time patients have to wait to receive services.
"It is tremendous that a voluntary collaboration of this type continues to grow across both our LHINs pooling resources in an effort to create a truly seamless patient experience," said Matthew Anderson, CEO, Toronto Central LHIN. "St. Michael's Hospital in particular brings a long history of strong ties with the community. Through organizations such as this, SIMS has gone from hospitals and rehab organizations into the home of the patient and now to the streets of our city, helping ensure equitable access to care."
Together through SIMS, these 15 organizations are transforming the way health care is delivered.
St. Michael's Hospital is a teaching hospital and system resource, committed to advancing our healthcare system to even greater heights through partnerships with our communities, our peers, the LHINs and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Our new Strategic Plan 2009-2012 calls for a focused investment in information management as a strategic enabler that will enhance greater activity and connectivity with the rest of the healthcare system.
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is committed to ensuring the 1 million patients we care for each year have the best access to their information and can benefit from a truly integrated healthcare system. The SIMS Partnership and Sunnybrook MyChartâ„¢ application are key components to improving care and empowering our patients and their families to take an active and informed role in their healthcare.
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