About Us

GEMINI is a unique big data collaborative supporting cutting-edge quality improvement and research projects.

Purpose

GEMINI’s purpose is to harness hospital data for a “Learning Health System”.

A “learning health system” integrates day-to-day clinical care with research and analytics, so that patients can receive cutting-edge treatments, new knowledge is continuously generated, and healthcare is continuously improving.

GEMINI is a not-for-profit research program based at Unity Health Toronto.

Context

As patient records are digitized, the volume and diversity of electronic health data has grown.

Electronic data is not shared well across the Canadian healthcare system, and it is difficult to access for research and analytics, due to fragmented computer systems and a maze of legal and privacy barriers. Analyzing healthcare data can lead to a much deeper understanding of health, illness, and healthcare delivery and contribute to a better, more sustainable healthcare system. There is a global race to harness electronic health data, and Canada risks being left behind.

Ontario is a globally unique place to study health and healthcare.

With more than 15.5 million people, Ontario is the largest unified health system in North America, with a single public insurance system covering one of the most diverse populations in the world. This makes research in Ontario more inclusive, diverse, and representative of global populations. Research in Ontario can produce globally impactful insights and innovations.

Main Activities

Timeline

  1. 2014

    GEMINI is established to study the quality of care in general medicine wards

  2. 2016

    First batch of data is collected from 7 hospitals

  3. 2017

    The initial cohort study is published which showed a dramatic increase in general medicine inpatient volume

  4. 2018

    The Ontario General Medicine Quality Improvement Network (GeMQIN) is established

  5. 2018-19

    First physician quality reports are distributed through GeMQIN

  6. 2020

    GEMINI partners with the Vector Institute to build a health data platform for Artificial Intelligence research

  7. 2020

    The GEMINI COVID-19 Hospital Analytics Laboratory receives funding from CIHR to expand GEMINI to 30 hospitals and study COVID-19

  8. 2021

    GEMINI publishes the first study describing hospitalization for COVID-19 in Canada

  9. 2022

    First hospital quality reports are distributed through GeMQIN

  10. 2023

    GEMINI data are linked at ICES, enabling research about trajectories of health before and after hospitalization