Walking the exhibit hall at OntarioMD’s Digital Health Conference 2025 (DHC2025), one theme was impossible to miss: AI. Vendors from across Canada showcased AI scribes and automation tools designed to ease documentation burdens, fill out forms, and even trigger EMR actions.
Video features: Mahshid Yassaei from Tali.ai, Dr. Noah Crampton from Mutuo Health, Scott Schroeder from Mikata, Jesse Creighton and Maureen Green from Heidi Health, Christine McKenzie from CIHI, Mark Casselman from Akinox, Robert Fox and Dr. Chandi Chandrasena from OntarioMD.
AI Moves From Hype to Hard Questions
What stood out this year wasn’t just the excitement over AI, it was the maturity of the conversation. Last year, the buzz centered on “what’s possible.” This year, it was about optimization, governance, and guardrails.
As Mahshid Yassaei, Co-Founder & CEO of Tali.ai (makers of a leading AI Scribe in Canada), put it – building any AI scribe is easy, but building a great one that respects clinician style, accuracy, and trust is the real challenge
Collaboration as the Secret Sauce
Christine McKenzie from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reinforced how important standards are to that trust. She explained, “We’re co-designing the common data standards and data architecture with people with different experiences and expertise—from clinicians to patient partners, vendors, and provinces—to really define the source of truth for health information.”
Robert Fox, CEO of OntarioMD, shared a complementary perspective, calling what’s happening in Canadian health IT a broader convergence: “We’re seeing a lot of people coming together, systems coming together, care providers coming together… and I think that’s the secret sauce to really accelerating our healthcare system.”
Both leaders emphasized that integration and collaboration are not optional—they’re essential to delivering connected care
Strengthening Family Physicians – the Foundation of the System
It was very encouraging to hear the focus being placed on revitalizing primary care in Ontario. Many of the attendees we spoke to noted that family physicians remain the front door to the entire healthcare system, and their digital needs must be prioritized.
If last year was about marveling at what AI could do, this year showed a sector determined to make it work responsibly. That maturity was reflected not just in vendor pitches, but in the way leaders like Christine McKenzie and Robert Fox spoke about standards, convergence, and connected care. And with primary care firmly in the spotlight, the conversations at DHC2025 suggested that Canada’s digital health community is no longer experimenting. Instead, Canadians are building the guardrails, integrations, and trust needed to make AI and interoperability part of everyday practice.
Learn more about OntarioMD at https://www.ontariomd.ca/
No comments:
Post a Comment