Buffalo, N.Y.-based Kaleida Health is unifying 13 EHR systems into Epic in collaboration with two other regional healthcare organizations.
The five-hospital system plans to launch the new EHR in Q2 2026, followed by its Community Connect partners — Erie County Medical Center Corp. and the University at Buffalo — in Q4 2026.
“Our goal in western New York is to improve community health and create a true population health ecosystem,” said Kaleida Health CIO Courtney Starnes. “For the first time, we’ll have a single longitudinal patient record that connects all care settings, providers, and teams across our organizations.”
The collaboration replacing multiple EHRs, including Athenahealth, Medent, Meditech, and Oracle Health, with Epic. Kaleida Health alone will retire 13 systems. The organizations are jointly making decisions, conducting readiness activities, testing, and preparing training programs. Around 200 Kaleida Health employees are dedicated full-time to the Epic implementation.
The Buffalo health system joins Springfield, Ill.-based Memorial Health — which is going live with Epic alongside its major Connect partner, Springfield-based SIU Medicine, in 2027 — in adopting a collaborative approach to implementation.
“We chose Epic because its values and principles align with our mission of continuous improvement, population health, and collaboration,” said Courtney Starnes, Kaleida Health CIO and EHR vendor Cerner (now Oracle Health) employee. “This is more than a technology upgrade — it’s about building a true population health ecosystem.”
Starnes said she’s excited about the benefits for both patients and providers, including enhanced virtual care, online scheduling, improved patient portal features, and expanded opportunities for research and innovation. Kaleida Health also plans to use Epic’s AI “starter kit” to test and identify solutions best suited for its needs.
The $2.5 billion health system is prioritizing transparency and engagement, hosting monthly town halls, sending regular employee newsletters, and providing updates to Erie County Medical Center and the University at Buffalo.
“Change management is one of the biggest challenges with a project of this scale,” Starnes noted. “You can’t fully anticipate how much transformation it brings — there’s always room to do more.”
