2025 Agenda

Meet and greet with fellow conference attendees. Enjoy food and beverages.

Health systems in Canada are facing a combination of head winds that are testing leaders like never before. As citizens manage their personal health and engage with health systems, they are faced with challenges at the entry point. Finding common ground that enables cost effective yet equitable delivery of comprehensive care is a national treasure and increasingly an unattainable dream.

Over loaded primary care has created waiting list and counter-intuitive diversions to higher cost options, such as emergency departments. Yet, virtual options presented to date have been not full optimized as referral patterns are inconsistent and additional capacity is not clearly directed. As result the additions to the care model brought about by the latest wave of technology tools is creating overlap, inequity and confused stakeholders.

In addition, the care at home models seem promising, yet limitations exist in the evolution of these models as well, as clinical risk management dictates caution in forward movement. Yet budget constraints continue to move initiatives forward and the need to design and evolve to home care models is imminent, and essentially urgently required.

Meanwhile vendors, innovators and entrepreneurs are seeing issues in health systems and creating solutions in small, medium and large company models. Each of these solutions are interesting, yet the culmination of them can be overwhelming. Alongside the changes in the public sector transformations, the vendor market will continue to experience significant rationalization.

There are good news stories in the current transformation models. Some of the most hopeful areas we see come from collaborative leadership, broader ecosystem shared interests, smarter use of digital tools and a better appreciation for the consumer experience. The impact of partnerships with strategic vendors is also a very positive opportunity. And opening new avenues of funding health systems is an urgent area of concern, with commercialization and venture capital models being extensively explored.

Across Canada, leaders are being asked to improve access, shorten wait times, and protect a burned-out workforce, often with no new staff or beds. Clinicians are spending more than two hours a day on administration, patients are waiting longer for care, and one in five Canadians still does not have a family doctor.

In this session, Dr. Thomas Kelly, vascular surgical registrar and CEO of Heidi Health, looks at what happens when you treat AI as a clinical assistant rather than another IT project. Drawing on real data from emergency departments, outpatient mental health, and primary care services in Canada and abroad, he will walk through how health systems are using AI to cut documentation time by 60-85 percent, return two or more hours per clinician per day, and increase patient throughput while improving clinicians’ sense of presence with patients.The focus is practical: where AI fits in today’s operating model, how to start with documentation and workflow automation as the foundation for an “AI care partner,” and how to expand capacity without asking exhausted teams to work harder or making care feel less human.

Key takeaways:

• How Canadian and international sites are measuring the impact of AI on documentation time, access, wait times, and burnout, with examples from Canadian ED, mental health, and primary care pilots.
• What it takes to implement AI documentation at scale – including a 6-8 week pilot approach, adoption patterns (often 60–80 percent organization-wide), and the role of clinical champions.
• A realistic roadmap from “AI scribe” to AI care partner: using transcripts as the raw material for tasks, follow-ups, and calls so clinicians spend more time on clinical reasoning and patient care, not paperwork.

With Canada’s population aging rapidly—baby boomers turning 80 in 2026—demand for home care is expected to double in the next 10–15 years. While seniors overwhelmingly want to age in place, gaps in policy, funding, and integration across home and community care remain a major challenge.

This session highlights innovative, client-directed programs like CAPABLE (Nova Scotia) and SMILE (Ontario) that empower seniors to stay at home safely and independently, reduce caregiver burden, and leverage targeted funding to deliver measurable results. Leaders will explore scalable models, funding approaches, and partnerships that can transform aging in place from aspiration to reality.

Key Takeaways:

• Policy and funding opportunities across the home care and long-term care continuum
• Evidence of success from integrated funding streams and care models
• Client-directed funding as a key enabler of aging in place

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS) is transforming patient care delivery through strategic investments in virtual care. This presentation will highlight how multiple virtual care modalities (spanning emergency, urgent, and primary care) are expanding access, reducing barriers, and improving patient outcomes across the province. By leveraging technology to connect patients with timely and appropriate services, NLHS is enhancing continuity of care, supporting health system capacity, and driving innovation in service delivery. The session will share early successes, lessons learned, and future opportunities as NLHS continues to build a sustainable, patient-centered model of virtual health care

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Virtual care is best used collaboratively threaded throughout the health system by a robust virtual care program.
• Ensure strong clinical pathways for patients and clinicians to navigate through virtual care and in-person services.
• Build a flexible virtual care environment to adapt to the unique needs of each site, service, and the changing health care environment.
• Incorporating virtual care across the health spectrum increases access and effective tools for patients

214 Lynx Street, Banff, Alberta

Flemingdon Health Centre’s 50-year journey demonstrates the transformative power of a community-rooted healthcare model. The session will showcase how to build a foundation for integrated care, put health equity at the core, and create integrated care pathways that improve population health outcomes. This session will highlight FHC’s leadership in developing community driven integrated care programs and the lessons learned in building resilience, fostering partnerships, and improving equitable access to care.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Why focusing on integrated care rather than integration has a greater impact
• What are the important considerations when creating an integrated care program
• What leaders need to do differently to lead integrated care initiatives

Traditional expectations around family medicine are shifting, challenging us to reimagine care not as a return to the past, but as a future built on circles of support, belonging, and strategic investment in health. These investments act as a driver of community resilience and economic growth.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• New insights on how Medavie is evolving to meet the changing needs of Canadians through its work in emergency medical services, primary care, and health program delivery
• How it is leveraging its unique vantage point across public, private, and community health
• Explore how frontline experience is shaping more connected, proactive, and personalized models of care

Nursing is at the heart of healthcare delivery, yet the workforce faces mounting pressures: retention challenges, evolving scopes of practice, and rising demands for care across all settings. In this dynamic fireside chat, Dr. Valerie Grdisa, CEO of the Canadian Nurses Association, and Dr. Michelle Acorn, CEO of the Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario, bring their national, provincial and territorial perspectives together to explore how nursing leadership is shaping the future of health care in Canada.

The conversation will highlight how strategic investments, innovative and team-based models of care, and expanded scopes of practice are not only supporting nurses and nurse practitioners but also ensuring equitable and sustainable care for Canadians. With decades of combined leadership, Valerie and Michelle will provide insight into how healthcare CEOs can align with nursing leaders to strengthen systems and achieve better outcomes.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• National and Provincial Perspectives – Understand the current state of Canada’s nursing and NP workforce, and what reforms are most urgent
• Innovative Models of Care – How nurse practitioners and fully optimized nursing teams can expand access, especially in underserved and rural regions
• Leadership Partnerships – Why strong collaboration between healthcare CEOs and nursing leaders is essential for sustainable system change
• Future Outlook – Practical strategies to build resilience, retain talent, and leverage nurse-led innovation for better patient outcomes