San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare and UC San Diego Health are trying to manage patient expectations in North County, where the hospitals they began operating July 1 still run Oracle Health (formerly Cerner) EHRs instead of their new partners’ Epic platforms, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Oct. 18.
Sharp took over operations of Oceanside, Calif.-based Tri-City Medical Center on July 1. The same day, UC San Diego Health finalized a joint powers authority with Escondido, Calif.-based Palomar Health. The new entity, Palomar UC San Diego Health, runs Palomar’s hospitals in Escondido and Poway and its outpatient operations.
Clinicians at the renamed Sharp Tri-City Medical Center cannot access Sharp’s Epic records, according to the report. A Vista, Calif., resident said she and her husband, a longtime Sharp patient, drove to Sharp facilities in San Diego rather than walk Tri-City staff through his complex medical history.
Terri Couts, senior vice president and chief information and digital officer of Sharp, told the Union-Tribune that the Epic go-live at Tri-City is scheduled for the third quarter of fiscal 2028. Ms. Couts said Sharp first focused on operational systems, such as payroll and attendance, and on putting its clinical care standards in place.
Until then, Sharp said it is building interim measures to give Tri-City clinicians wider access to Sharp patient records. These include education on health information exchange access and better communication between facilities.
At a town hall meeting, Patricia Maysent, CEO of UC San Diego Health, said transferring care between the systems is still difficult. “You have to give us time to get it less clunky,” she said.
Ms. Maysent said full integration of the two organizations, which remain legally separate, will likely take at least five years.
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