Digital Health Conference Program 2026 - Digital Health Conference

Turning technology into time – Creating Capacity in the Community

Program is subject to change. Additional sessions and speakers will be added as details are finalized. Please check back regularly for updates.

The conference’s objectives are to educate attendees on the evolving use of health technology to:

Support quick and easy access to patient data and information for better clinical decision-making.
Communicate and connect with healthcare professionals efficiently.
Optimize patient care, practice efficiency, and professional satisfaction for clinicians, staff and patients.
Save time creating efficiencies and increasing capacity.

CME Accreditation: This program is accredited for 10.25 Mainpro+® credits approved by the College of Family Physicians, Ontario Chapter.

Credits are transferrable for specialists.

Registration and breakfast open at 7:00 a.m. each day

Why should you attend Registration

Thank you to our Sponsors

Day one morning sessions

Skip to Day 2 Sessions

8:30 A.M. to 8:45 A.M.

Opening remarks

Speaker:

Robert Fox, Chief Executive Officer, OntarioMD
Rebecca Hicks, MD, President, Ontario Medical Association
Hon. Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier | Minister of Health

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9:05 A.M. to 10:05 A.M.

Recommended for: All attendees

Something has changed in our clinics, our teams, and our waiting rooms. Patients arrive angrier. Colleagues are exhausted, cynical, or quietly disengaging. The usual responses — wellness programs, communications plans, another engagement survey — aren’t working, because they treat the wrong condition.

Anger is a call for help. Outrage is what happens when no one answers. When outrage goes unanswered for long enough, it collapses into the most damaging state of all: indifference. Patients, clinicians and clinic teams have not left, but they have stopped believing change is possible.

Based on his national bestseller The Outrage Cure, Dr. Alika Lafontaine — the first Indigenous president of the Canadian Medical Association and a practicing anesthesiologist in northern Alberta — offers a hopeful, practical guide to the emotional reality of practicing medicine right now. He traces how loss, betrayal and hopelessness carry us through anger, outrage and indifference, why suppressing those emotions makes everything worse, and why burnout is what indifference looks like when people get stuck and change feels impossible.

He’ll also show the way back: hearing anger as a signal rather than noise, answering calls for help before they harden, and rebuilding the human connections that thriving health systems have always depended on. Along the way he’ll examine how digital health is amplifying every stage of this journey — and what questions we should be asking of every new tool.

Participants will leave with a simple diagnostic — where do my patients, my team, and I sit? — and concrete actions matched to each emotion. Rooted in real stories from the front lines of care and his own national leadership, this keynote offers clinicians things in short supply: an acknowledgement that the heaviness you’ve been feeling is real, a reason to believe a better tomorrow is possible, and the roadmap to get started.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Distinguish between anger, outrage and indifference, and identify where their patients, teams and practices sit along that emotional continuum.
Tailor their response to the emotion in front of them, addressing underlying concerns and rebuilding connection rather than dismissing or suppressing them.
Assess whether a digital health tool is likely to strengthen trust or undermine it before integrating it into practice.
Apply practical strategies to rebuild trust, strengthen engagement and foster healthier clinical relationships and team dynamics

Speaker:

Alika Lafontaine, MD, Indigenous Advisor-in-Residence, Canadian Medical Association, Rural Anesthesiologist, and the author of The Outrage Cure

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10:05 A.M. to 10:50 A.M.

Recommended for: All attendees

To support clinicians in providing high-quality care, the Evidence2Practice (E2P) Ontario program embeds high-quality evidence, including clinical practice guidelines and other provincial guidance documents, into digital clinical decision-support (CDS) tools. Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), have expanded the range of CDS tools that can support the program’s mission.

AI-based CDS, or AI-CDS, can provide evidence-based recommendations that reduce cognitive overload, optimize care delivery and improve patient outcomes. However, only 7 per cent of clinicians use any type of AI tool to support patient care, despite 62 per cent of Ontarians and 47 per cent of clinicians reporting comfort with AI use in health care. If barriers such as legal considerations and trust in AI-CDS are addressed, uptake could increase and the anticipated benefits for patients, clinicians and the healthcare system may be realized. Therefore, the E2P program is conducting a two-phase project to: (1) identify AI-CDS tools that align with patient, clinician and system needs and present acceptable risk; and (2) iteratively evaluate AI-CDS usability, trustworthiness and clinical impact.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Increase awareness of the Evidence2Practice program and its evolution toward AI-powered clinical decision-support tools.
Identify the two-phase testing process used to assess key factors that influence clinician adoption of AI-enabled clinical decision support, or AI-CDS.
Recognize which types of AI-CDS tools offer the greatest clinical value with acceptable risk in primary care, based on learnings to date.

Panelists:

Onil Bhattacharyya, MD, Director, WCH Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care, Scientific Director, Centre for Digital Health Evaluation
Rebecca Ataman, PhD, Lead, Digital Implementation, Quality, Ontario Health
Ariane Siegel, General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer, OntarioMD
Pippy Scott-Meuser, Director, Digital and E2P, Centre for Effective Practice (CEP)

Moderator:

Ali N. Damji, BHSc, MD, MSc., CCFP Staff Family Physician, Addictions Curriculum Lead, & Site Quality Improvement Program Director, Credit Valley Family Medicine Teaching Unit, Assistant Professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Toronto

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Concurrent morning sessions

11:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

Recommended for: Family physicians, specialists, nurses and nurse practitioners, clinic managers and clinic staff. Open to all attendees interested in the topic.

Artificial intelligence is transforming more than clinical documentation, it is reshaping how physicians and patients communicate, build trust, and partner in care. Join a family physician and researcher, an OntarioMD’s physician peer leader, and a patient partner as they explore how AI tools, including AI scribes and patient-facing clinical notes, can enhance engagement, improve understanding of care plans and support better health outcomes. Through real-world examples and emerging evidence, this panel will examine the opportunities, challenges and ethical considerations of integrating AI into primary care, while offering practical insights into using technology to strengthen—not replace—the human connection at the heart of patient care.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Assess the implications of patient use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools on communication, trust and shared decision-making.
Identify common sources of AI-generated health misinformation and strategies to address them in clinical practice.
Examine the impact of direct-to-patient AI technologies and marketing on patient expectations, engagement and care decisions.
Apply practical approaches to strengthen patient engagement, improve health literacy and maintain trust in an AI-enabled care environment.

Panelists:

Iris Gorfinkel, MD, Family Physician and Researcher, PrimeHealth Clinical Research
Sydney Graham, Patient Partner, OntarioMD

Moderator:

Keith Thompson, MD, Physician Peer Leader, OntarioMD

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11:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

Recommended for: Family physicians, specialists, nurses and nurse practitioners, executive directors, clinic managers and clinic staff. Open to all attendees interested in the topic.

What if clinicians could spend less time on documentation and more time with patients?

This session shares a practical, real-world model for modernizing patient encounters through the thoughtful use of digital automation, AI scribes, and team-based workflows. Learn how pre-visit questionnaires, proactive care planning, AI-assisted documentation, and secure digital follow-up can create more efficient, patient-centred visits without increasing workload or extending appointment times.

Drawing on experience from a community family practice, this presentation will demonstrate how technology can reduce administrative burden, improve patient engagement, support preventive care, and help clinicians focus on what matters most—the human connection at the heart of family medicine.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Apply pre-visit digital tools to improve visit preparedness, documentation quality, and clinical efficiency in primary care.
Integrate AI-assisted documentation workflows to reduce administrative burden while maintaining clinical oversight and patient-centred care.
Leverage team-based digital workflows to enhance patient engagement, preventive care, and continuity of care.

Speaker:

Michelle Greiver, Family physician with North York Family Health Team and professor in the department of family and community medicine at the University of Toronto

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11:15 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

Recommended for: Specialists and clinic managers. Open to all attendees interested in the topic.

Dr. Kanji will demonstrate how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to create customized clinical eForms that integrate into EMRs, providing point-of-care access to disease activity calculators, diagnostic criteria tools, percentage-change calculations, and bone and muscle health modelling. These tools support standardized patient assessment, longitudinal tracking of clinical outcomes, and visualization of disease progression and treatment response.

He will also share how AI-generated eForms can be integrated into routine clinical workflows. Participants will learn how these tools can support patient engagement through visualization of health data, improve documentation by storing assessments directly in the patient record, and support clinical decision-making through timely access to relevant measures and calculations.

Participants will gain practical insights into the opportunities, limitations and considerations associated with using large language models (LLMs) to develop clinician-facing digital tools that support evidence-informed care in rheumatology and other specialty practices.

Panel Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Describe how AI-generated eForms can integrate disease activity measures, diagnostic criteria and clinical calculators into EMR workflows.
Identify opportunities to improve patient assessment, documentation and longitudinal disease monitoring through point-of-care digital tools.
Evaluate the potential benefits and limitations of using AI-generated tools to support clinical decision-making.

Speaker:

Tahir Kanji, MD, Rheumatologist, Ultimate Diagnostics Inc.

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11:00 A.M. to 11:45 A.M.

This panel aims to help clinicians understand how AI can be safely and responsibly integrated into clinical practice by exploring both the opportunities and risks associated with emerging technologies such as AI Scribes, AI-enabled Clinical Decision Support (AI-CDS), administrative AI tools, and future agentic AI systems.

Using real-world examples from AI Scribe evaluations, Vendor of Record (VOR) programs, AI-CDS assessments, and lessons emerging from Auditor General findings, the discussion will highlight the roles of IPC, Health Canada, vendors, healthcare organizations, and clinicians in supporting responsible AI adoption.

The panel will address key questions around clinical safety, privacy, security, accountability, transparency, and governance, while exploring how these risks can be managed over time through shared accountability, ongoing assurance, evaluation frameworks, and oversight mechanisms.

Learning Objectives

What are the responsibilities of vendors?
How should procurement and assurance programs evolve?
What should health care organizations be responsible for?

Panelists:

Patricia Kosseim, Information and Privacy Commissioner
Ariane Siegel, General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer, OntarioMD
Amol Verma, MD, General Internal Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital, Temerty Professor of AI Research and Education in Medicine, University of Toronto

Moderator:

Will Falk, Canadian Standards Association Public Policy Fellow

Please read Mr. Falk’s article on A Complement, Not a Substitute: Generative AI’s role in Canadian Healthcare in 2026.

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Day one afternoon concurrent sessions

1:15 P.M. to 2:00 P.M.

Recommended for: Family physicians, Immunologists, executive directors, clinic managers and clinic staff. Open to all attendees interested in the topic.

How can primary care teams improve access to specialty care while addressing language, cultural, and system barriers?

This session explores an innovative model that embeds culturally responsive allergy care directly within primary care settings. By combining structured EMR data, shared digital workflows, and utilizing simple functions within AI to address gaps, care teams were able to identify barriers, tailor patient education, and streamline care delivery for newcomer populations.

Learn how this approach reduced specialist wait times from 79 to 30 days, improved patient trust and engagement, and restored valuable clinical capacity. Attendees will gain practical insights into using EMR data and AI to drive more equitable, efficient, and patient-centred care within their own communities.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Analyze how structured EMR data can be used to identify access barriers, care gaps, and population health trends within specialty care pathways.
Design an embedded, culturally responsive specialty care model that leverages shared digital workflows, language-concordant care, and AI-informed patient education.
Measure and communicate the impact of workflow redesign on access, efficiency, clinician capacity, and patient outcomes to support scalable, evidence-based care improvements.

Speaker:

Catherine Vu, Executive Director, ACIR

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3:40 P.M. to 4:10 P.M.

Recommended for: Family physicians, specialists, executive directors, clinic managers and clinic staff. Open to all attendees interested in the topic.

Clinicians today are navigating growing patient volumes, increasing administrative demands, and information overload—all while striving to deliver exceptional patient care. How can AI help?

This session explores a practical framework for integrating AI across the patient journey, from pre-visit intake and consultation support to post-visit follow-up. Learn how AI-powered tools can streamline documentation, synthesize patient information, automate routine tasks, and reduce cognitive burden for clinicians.

Through real-world workflows and implementation strategies, attendees will discover how AI can save valuable time, improve clinic efficiency, and create more meaningful patient interactions—turning technology into a tool for better care, not more work.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Describe how AI-enabled tools can support the patient journey through pre-visit intake, in-visit clinical support, and post-visit follow-up.
Identify opportunities to reduce clinician cognitive load and administrative burden through AI-assisted documentation, data synthesis, and patient communication.
Apply practical strategies for integrating AI-enabled patient experience workflows within community practice settings intended to improve efficiency, patient engagement, and clinician satisfaction.

Speaker:

Neha Sadhotra, PH.D., Independent Consultant

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1:15 P.M. to 2:00 P.M.

Recommended for: Family physicians, specialists, executive directors, clinic managers and clinic staff. Open to all attendees interested in the topic.

The Patients Before Paperwork (Pb4P) initiative, led by Ontario Health in partnership with the Ministry of Health, is helping modernize Ontario’s referral system through eReferral Ontario, Central Intake and Standardized Referral Forms (SRFs). Learn how these tools are streamlining referral workflows, reducing administrative burden and supporting more coordinated, patient-centred care. This session will highlight implementation lessons, early outcomes and opportunities to scale successful

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Explain how eReferral, Central Intake and Standardized Referral Forms support coordinated referrals and improved access to care.
Identify how standardized processes reduce administrative burden and improve referral workflow efficiency.
Assess early impacts of eReferral and Central Intake on improving system performance and access to care, including considerations for scalability and broader adoption.

Panelists:

David Urbach, MD
Steve Pomedli, MD
Nala Sriharan, Registered Nurse
Erin Keely, MD, Endocrinologist

Moderator:

Cynthia MacWilliam, Executive Director, Client Services and Engagement, OntarioMD

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1:15 P.M. to 2:00 P.M.

Recommended for: Family physicians, specialists, executive directors, clinic managers and clinic staff. Open to all attendees interested in the topic.

Discover an innovative open-source Intelligent Physician Digital Assistant (IPDA) designed to automate routine clinical tasks, reduce administrative burden, and unlock the full potential of EMR data. Built for the OSCAR EMR, this AI-powered solution combines clinical documentation, document processing, data integration, and conversational analytics in a single workflow.

Learn how the IPDA automatically generates and inserts clinical notes, extracts and integrates data from reports and lab results, and enables clinicians to interact with their EMR through a chatbot capable of performing complex tasks in seconds. By transforming how information is captured, analyzed, and used, this tool has the potential to save clinicians significant time while supporting better decision-making, population health management, and research.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Describe how an open-source AI scribe can automate clinical documentation and reduce administrative workload.
Explain how large language models and OCR technologies can extract, analyze, and integrate clinical data from documents and laboratory reports directly into the EMR.
Explore how conversational AI and chatbot functionality can support advanced EMR searches, patient population analysis, workflow automation, and quality improvement initiatives.

Speakers:

Maheswaran Srivamadevan, MD, Cardiologist, OntarioMD Specialist Physician Peer Leader
Braedon Hendy, MD, Family Physician, OntarioMD Physician Peer Leader

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1:15 P.M. to 2:00 P.M.

Recommended for: All attendees

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to reduce administrative burden, improve efficiency and support clinical decision-making. Yet many physicians remain hesitant to adopt AI tools because of concerns about privacy, accuracy, medico-legal risk, workflow disruption and the potential impact on professional judgment.

This session explores the practical and psychological barriers that influence adoption. Through real-world examples and evidence-informed insights, participants will gain a clearer understanding of the risks and opportunities associated with AI in clinical practice.

This session emphasizes informed curiosity, moving beyond barriers to the first steps, and sustainable adoption rather than becoming an AI expert.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Identify common barriers that prevent physicians from adopting AI tools in practice
Distinguish between perceived and actual risks associated with AI use in medicine
Identify low-risk, high-value opportunities to use AI while maintaining professional judgment and patient confidentiality
Develop a practical first step for integrating AI into their practice in a safe, sustainable and time-efficient manner

Speaker:

Sam Wallenius, MD, Associate Medical Director, Physician Health Program, Physician Health Program

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3:40 P.M. to 4:10 P.M.

What could your team do with an extra 34 hours a year?

Diabetes care often involves repetitive administrative tasks, inconsistent screening processes, and complex billing requirements that take valuable time away from patient care. This session showcases how one family health team transformed diabetes management through a standardized EMR workflow that streamlines coding, foot ulcer risk screening, lab ordering, billing and more.

Using real-world results from nearly 1,000 patients, attendees will learn how EMR customization helped improve guideline-based care, reduce cognitive load, and return more than 34 hours annually to clinicians and care teams. Discover practical strategies that can be adopted to support diabetes care and other chronic disease programs in community practice.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Describe how a standardized EMR-based diabetes workflow can reduce manual tasks and streamline both clinical and administrative processes in primary care.
Evaluate the potential time savings achieved through streamlining workflow of chart reviews, screening forms, coding, and billing activities.
Apply key EMR customization principles to support guideline-concordant diabetes care, reduce administrative burden, and reclaim clinician time.

Speaker:

Denis Tsang, Quality and Digital Health Strategist, Woodbridge Medical Centre Family Health Team
Natalie Richards, MD, Family Physician, Woodbridge Medical Centre Family Health Team

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3:40 P.M. to 4:10 P.M.

Recommended for: Family physicians, nurse practitioners, clinic managers. Open to all attendees interested in the topic.

Explore how a province-wide digital perinatal record could transform the delivery of pregnancy care by reducing documentation burden and improving information sharing across care settings. This session introduces BORNConnect’s vision for an interoperable perinatal record that integrates directly within existing EMRs, supporting seamless transitions between primary care, obstetrics and hospital settings. Through clinician insights, emerging design concepts and interactive discussion, attendees will discover how digitally connected workflows can enhance continuity of care, improve access to critical pregnancy information and inform the future of perinatal care in Ontario.

Speaker:

Anna Chavlovski, MD, Medical Director, BORNConnect, BORN
Sophie Outar, Project Director, BORNConnect, BORN

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3:40 P.M. to 4:10 P.M.

Recommended for: Family physicians, specialists, nurse practitioners, clinic managers and clinic staff. Open to all attendees interested in the topic.

Chronic disease, limited access to primary care and health human resource shortages continue to place pressure on health systems. This session will explore findings from a Canadian primary care pilot that used AI-enabled remote patient monitoring, telehealth and predictive analytics to support patients with chronic conditions.

Participants will learn how continuous biometric monitoring, clinician dashboards and automated alerts were integrated into primary care workflows to support early intervention, risk stratification and care continuity. The session will review implementation considerations, pilot outcomes and the potential role of remote monitoring in reducing unnecessary acute care utilization while supporting clinician efficiency and patient-centred care.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Understand how AI-enabled remote patient monitoring can support the management of patients with chronic disease in primary care settings.
Identify key workflow, technology and interoperability considerations for implementing remote monitoring programs in clinical practice.
Assess the potential impact of predictive analytics and automated alerts on early intervention, patient outcomes and clinician workload.

Speaker:

Andrea Galindo, CEO, Co-Founder, Baüne Ecosystem

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4:10 P.M. to 4:55 P.M.

Recommended for: all attendees

Technology and scientific advancement are essential to the future of medicine. They can improve accuracy, reduce administrative burden and increase efficiency.

But is efficiency alone enough?

At its heart, medicine is a deeply human practice shaped by the people at its centre: the patient, who brings an illness within the context of a life, and the physician, who must listen, interpret, connect and care.

Yet many of these essential capacities receive little formal attention during medical training. Skills such as close observation, self-reflection, recognizing bias and perspective, navigating ambiguity and cultivating compassionate intelligence are often assumed rather than intentionally taught.

In this keynote, Dr. Nandini Gupta explores how art and art analysis can help develop these foundational competencies. Drawing on the evidence behind arts-based medical education, she will introduce Art in Medicine’s practical frameworks, share how they are being integrated into medical school and residency training, and demonstrate how learning through art can influence the way physicians observe, make decisions, connect with patients and care for themselves.

As medicine becomes increasingly driven by technology, the arts offer a structured and evidence-informed approach to strengthening the human capabilities that exceptional care depends on now more than ever.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Describe the evidence supporting art analysis as a tool for strengthening observation skills and compassionate intelligence.
Explain how arts-based learning can be translated into practical approaches for medical education and clinical practice.
Identify ways engagement with art can influence patient care, clinical decision-making and physicians’ connection to meaning and purpose in their work.

Keynote speaker:

Nandini Gupta, MD, Cardiologist, Mackenzie Health, Assistant Clinical Professor, TMU, Founder & CEO, Art in Medicine (AiM)

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4:55 P.M. to 5:00 P.M.

Recommended for: all attendees

Technology and scientific advancement are essential to the future of medicine. They can improve accuracy, reduce administrative burden and increase efficiency.

But is efficiency alone enough?

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Describe the evidence supporting art analysis as a tool for strengthening observation skills and compassionate intelligence.
Explain how arts-based learning can be translated into practical approaches for medical education and clinical practice.
Identify ways engagement with art can influence patient care, clinical decision-making and physicians’ connection to meaning and purpose in their work.

OntarioMD

Day two morning sessions

8:30 A.M. to 8:45 A.M.

Opening remarks

Speakers:

Robert Fox, Chief Executive Officer, OntarioMD
Andrew Park, MD, Chief Executive Officer (interim)

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8:45A.M. to 9:30 A.M.

Recommended for: All attendees

From a busy inner-city family practice to building a medical school for the public, launching a media lab and film company, and becoming one of the first physicians hired by Apple, Dr. Evans reflects on what actually happens when evidence-based medicine meets storytelling, wearables, AI, and real human connection. He examines where today’s health innovations are genuinely helping, where they fall short, and some untapped opportunities to do better.

Speaker:

Michael Evans, MD, Physician, educator, former Apple staffer, and health innovator transforming the way health information is communicated

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9:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M.

Recommended for: All attendees

As AI tools become a routine source of health information and advice, clinicians are navigating new opportunities and challenges in patient engagement, digital health literacy, misinformation, and accountability. Bringing together some of the leading voices in digital health, policy, and innovation, this panel of experts examine how AI is reshaping healthcare interactions and discusses practical strategies for helping people use AI safely while maintaining trust, quality, and equity in care.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Explore how patients are already using AI : from symptom and health information to wearables, remote monitoring and AI-generated advice, and what this means for the clinician–patient relationship.
Examine how clinicians and the health system should respond when patients arrive with AI-generated information, recommendations and expectations, including questions of trust, transparency, accountability and the changing role of the clinician.
Identify practical approaches to ensure AI-enabled care is safe, equitable and human-centred, particularly for patients who may be less digitally connected or more vulnerable to being left behind.

Panelists:

Chandi Chandrasena, MD, Chief Medical Officer, OntarioMD
Tania Tajirian, MD, Chief Health Information Officer and Chief of Hospital Medicine, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Jennifer Zelmer, PhD, President and CEO, Healthcare Excellence Canada

Moderator: Michael Evans, MD, Physician, educator, former Apple staffer, and health innovator transforming the way health information is communicated

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11:00 A.M. to 11:45 A.M.

Are you contemplating changing your EMR? An EMR is not just about the EMR software itself, it is about the support you receive, the data you have collected, the operational items like forms, reports, and macros. It includes billing, scheduling, patient interaction, legal, privacy and potentially much more.

Designed for clinicians, this session brings first-hand physician experience, and years of oversight navigating physician and clinic EMR migration challenges across Ontario. It focuses on real world implications and the questions you should be asking when choosing your next EMR.

Speakers:

Leah Feldman, MD, Family Physician & Physician Peer Leader, OntarioMD
Andrew King, Chief Technology Officer, OntarioMD

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11:00 A.M. to 11:45 A.M.

Join OntarioMD’s General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer for a practical discussion on the impact of AI and digital health technology on legal privacy, obligations of physicians and health information custodians. This session will explore use of digital health tools in clinical settings, recent IPC guidance, and the current Canadian legal and regulatory environment. The session will offer practical insights into emerging risks, emerging legislation and strategies for clinicians to maintain professional responsibilities.

Speaker:

Ariane Siegel, General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer, OntarioMD

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11:10 A.M. to 11:55 A.M.

Finding locum coverage can be one of the most time-consuming and frustrating challenges in clinical practice. Many physicians still rely on personal networks, email lists, and manual outreach to secure temporary coverage—creating barriers that contribute to burnout, practice instability, and inequitable access to support.

This session introduces LOCVM, an innovative physician-designed digital platform that streamlines locum coordination through intelligent matching technology. Attendees will see how digital workforce solutions can reduce administrative burden, improve access to coverage opportunities, and help practices maintain continuity of care. Through a live demonstration and real-world implementation insights, participants will explore how technology can simplify a longstanding challenge in primary and specialty care.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Describe the administrative and coordination challenges associated with arranging locum coverage.
Identify how digital matching platforms can streamline the process of securing temporary physician coverage and improve access to locum opportunities.
Apply a practical framework for evaluating digital workforce coordination tools, including considerations of usability, equity, feasibility, and integration into existing practice workflows.

Speaker:

Angélique Bernabé, PhD, Research Lead, LOCVM
Joyce Cheung, MD, Chief Medical Officer, LOCVM

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Day Two Short Snappers 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m

The short snappers will feature new innovations your colleagues are using to help reduce admin burden and enhance patient care. These four sessions will each run for 10 minutes, followed by five minutes for questions.

11:00 A.M. to 11:15 A.M.

Many patients with chronic cardiometabolic conditions remain below recommended treatment targets despite established clinical guidelines. This session presents a practical care model that combines AI-supported patient identification, automated intake, ambient documentation and team-based care to help primary care practices proactively identify and manage care gaps. Through real-world implementation examples, attendees will learn how digital tools, physician extenders and coordinated referral pathways can support more consistent guideline-based care, improve practice efficiency and expand access for patients with chronic disease.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Describe how AI-driven EMR screening tools can identify patients with unmet cardiometabolic care gaps without requiring full EMR interoperability and prioritize them for outreach and intervention.
Explain how a structured four-step physician extender model, supported by LLM-based guideline recommendations and ambient AI documentation, increases physician capacity while maintaining care quality and closing chronic disease care gaps.
Identify practical strategies for integrating eConsult and specialist referral pathways into a primary care chronic disease workflow to support coordinated, guideline-directed therapy for complex patients.

Speaker:

Abubaker Khalifa, MD, Co-Founder, Inflective AI

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11:15 A.M. to 11:30 A.M.

Home care observations play an important role in helping primary care teams manage frail seniors and patients with complex chronic conditions, yet documentation is often incomplete and inconsistent. This session examines how a voice-first documentation solution can create structured, SOAP-ready clinical notes that improve communication between home care providers and primary care teams while reducing documentation time. Using real-world implementation data, attendees will learn how voice-enabled documentation can strengthen continuity of care, improve the quality of clinical information and return valuable time to patient-facing care.

Speakers:

Tayeb Toufik Dahar, Director of Business Intelligence Innovations
Robin Cheslock, Clinical Director, Integrated Care Services, Canadian Shield Health Care Services Inc.

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11:30 A.M. to 11:45 A.M.

Patients often struggle to find timely care while clinics manage cancellations, uneven demand and unused appointment capacity. This session examines how a real-time coordination platform can help connect patients with available appointments across community-based care without disrupting existing EMR workflows. Attendees will explore how structured digital intake, intelligent patient-provider matching and operational insights can improve access to care, make better use of existing clinic capacity and support more efficient practice operations.

Learning objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Understand how real-time capacity visibility can improve patient access while supporting clinic flow and utilization.
Explore practical applications of AI within patient intake, provider matching, and no-show mitigation — in a PHIPA- and OHIP-compliant environment.
Identify how coordination-layer tools can integrate with existing EMR workflows to enhance efficiency without disrupting clinical care.

Speaker:

James Hong, PhD, Neuroscience/Bioinformatics, CEO, Verismo Health Inc

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11:45 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

Routine patient calls for appointment bookings, confirmations, prescription renewals and general inquiries place significant demands on front-desk staff and can delay access to care. This session examines how AI-supported communication tools can automate many of these routine interactions while integrating with existing clinic scheduling systems and EMRs. Attendees will explore practical implementation lessons, the role of structured workflow orchestration alongside conversational AI, and early results demonstrating how automation can improve patient access while allowing clinic staff to focus on more complex requests

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Understand how AI-based systems can automate routine patient communication tasks such as appointment scheduling, confirmations, and general inquiries.
Understand nuances of LLM vs BE Orchestrated decision-making, implications on complexity and reliability
Review real-world deployment results from community clinics using AI automation to improve patient access and practice efficiency.

Speaker:

Ali Qamar, MD, Co-Founder, CEO, Strello Health
Reza Mirza, MD, Co-founder, Strello Health / Assistant Professor of Medicine, McMaster

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Day Two Afternoon Sessions

1:10 P.M. to 1:40 P.M.

Discover how a digital, EMR-integrated intake pipeline can simplify patient attachment while reducing administrative burden for primary care teams. This session explores a practical approach that combines self-registration, automated EMR chart creation, algorithm-based provider assignment and online appointment booking to streamline intake workflows and improve operational efficiency. Attendees will learn how digital tools can support more equitable patient attachment, reduce no-show rates and restore valuable capacity, offering a scalable model for primary care teams working to meet Ontario’s growing demand for access to care.

Speaker:

Denis Tsang, Independent Digital Health Consultant

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1:10 P.M. to 2:10 P.M.

These 60-minute round table workshops will allow you to learn from OntarioMD Peer Leaders in a group environment. Ask questions and network with colleagues who use similar workflows. Get tips and tricks to improve practice efficiency and ease administrative burden from Peer Leaders using Accuro® EMR, OSCAR PRO, PS Suite and Collaborative Health Record (CHR) EMRs.

Please note: Round tables are only available for these four certified EMRs listed.

Facilitators: Physician Peer Leaders and Practice Enhancement Consultants, OntarioMD

Byron Song, MD, Physician Peer Leader (Accuro EMR)
Harvey Blankenstein, MD, Physician Peer Leader (Accuro EMR)
Vandana Ahluwalia, MD, Specialist (Rheumatology) (Accuro EMR)
Reza Montezeri, MD, Physician Peer Leader (OSCAR Pro)
Usha Parthasarathi, MD, Specialist (Psychiatry) Specialty Peer Leader (OSCAR Pro)
Chris LeBouthillier, Clinic Executive Peer Leader (Collaborative Health Record – CHR)
Jason Baker, MD, Physician Peer Leader (PS Suite EMR)
Kevin Samson, MD, Physician Peer Leader (PS Suite EMR)
Loredana Di Santo, MD, Physician Peer Leader (PS Suite EMR)
Roger Mandjlekian, Clinic Executive Peer Leader (PS Suite EMR)

Moderator:

Sharon Domb, MD, Physician Peer Leader (PS Suite EMR)

1:10 P.M. to 3:10 P.M.

Small changes can have a significant impact on practice efficiency. This interactive workshop introduces practical strategies to reduce administrative burden and identify opportunities to eliminate unnecessary work, standardize processes and optimize team-based care.

Led by an OntarioMD Peer Leader and Practice Enhancement Consultants, the workshop combines practical instruction, EMR-specific^* demonstrations and facilitated discussions. Through real-world examples and peer learning, attendees will examine proven approaches to reducing administrative tasks, streamlining workflows and maximizing the value of both their EMR and care team.

Participants will leave with practical, actionable ideas they can apply in their own clinics to improve efficiency, enhance the patient experience and support a more sustainable workday.

^*Demos are given on Accuro® EMR, OSCAR PRO and PS Suite EMRs.

Facilitators: Physician Peer Leaders and Practice Enhancement Consultants, OntarioMD

Rebecca Lubitz, MD, Physician Peer Leader OntarioMD
Olivera Bosnic, Practice Enhancement Consultant, OntarioMD
Afsoon Khazaee, Practice Enhancement Consultant, OntarioMD
Siobhan Doherty, Practice Enhancement Consultant, OntarioMD

Moderator: Katie Peter, Practice Enhancement Consultant, OntarioMD

2:20 P.M. to 3:05 P.M.

Recommended for: Family physicians, executive directors. All attendees are welcome.

Turning a clinical idea into a quality improvement or research project often requires navigating complex research ethics processes that can consume 20–40 hours of clinician time. For busy community providers, this administrative burden can delay—or prevent—important innovation and contribute to burnout.

In this session, discover how AI-assisted tools can streamline the research ethics workflow, from REB determination and literature reviews to protocol generation and consent documentation. Through a real-world case study, participants will learn how clinicians can reduce administrative effort, accelerate ethics submissions, and focus more time on patient care and practice improvement.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Identify key administrative barriers in the research ethics process and distinguish between projects that require REB review and those exempt under TCPS2 guidelines.
Describe how AI-assisted tools can automate literature reviews, protocol development, and REB determination to significantly reduce research administration time.
Apply a structured, technology-enabled workflow to translate clinical questions into ethics-ready submissions within their own practice.

Speaker:

Matthew Bromwich, MD, Director, CORE Innovation (CHEO-RI)

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2:20 P.M. to 3:05 P.M.

Fax-based referrals frequently cross disconnected hospitals, specialists and community EMRs. Referrals may be duplicated, forwarded, rejected or re-faxed, creating administrative work and limited visibility into referral status.

This session examines an early pilot combining localized AI-assisted workflow automation with a community shared, privacy-conscious referral dashboard. Rather than replacing existing systems, the approach works alongside current fax and EMR workflows to help identify bottlenecks, organize requests and improve referral visibility and coordination.

Participants will explore where referral workflows commonly break down, lessons from the pilot, and practical ways similar workflow improvements can be tested and measured in their own environments.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Identify opportunities to use localized AI-assisted tools to reduce repetitive administrative work in fax-based referral workflows.
Describe how workflow automation and shared referral tracking can improve visibility and coordination across disconnected systems.
Apply simple measures to evaluate referral workflow improvements, including duplicate handling, follow-up workload and referral turnaround time.

Speaker:

Sean Kerklaan, Founder and Principal, Smart Clinic Systems

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2:20 P.M. to 3:05 P.M.

Overwhelming phone volumes, staff burnout, and patient accessibility complaints continue to challenge community-based family medicine practices. While conversational artificial intelligence (AI) voice receptionists offer a compelling approach to automating routine scheduling and call triaging, moving from concept to live deployment introduces real-world operational and technical complexities.

This session presents a practical, ground-level assessment of evaluating and deploying an EMR-integrated AI receptionist. Drawing from real-world implementation experience—highlighting a rapid 2-to-3-week deployment in a 10-physician suburban clinic alongside comparative frameworks for a 2-physician small community practice—this talk addresses whether family practices should or could adopt voice AI, and how to do so successfully. Attendees will learn how to navigate vendor selection and lead the critical physician/staff/patient alignment and human change management required to implement a solution.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Evaluate the Operational Viability & ROI of Voice AI: Assess whether an AI voice receptionist is appropriate for their clinic by comparing the implementation barriers (e.g., protocol standardization, software costs) against the realized benefits (e.g., staff time saved, reduction in dropped calls, and protection from constant interruptions).
Formulate a Change Management Strategy: Apply strategies to align physicians on standardized EMR booking rules and support administrative staff through workflow transitions, enabling rapid deployment within weeks rather than months
Discuss practical considerations regarding deployment

Speakers:

Sohal Goyal, MD
Beth Perrier, MD
Seth Goyal, Honours Health Science

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2:20 P.M. to 3:20 P.M.

Recommended for: Specialists, clinic managers. All attendees are welcome.

Accurate medical billing is essential to a physician’s practice, yet many clinicians face challenges navigating complex billing rules, documentation requirements and evolving fee schedules. Traditional billing education methods, such as reference guides, training sessions and delayed feedback, are often disconnected from clinical workflows and difficult to access at the point of care.

Dr. Yousuf explores the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as an educational tool to support physician billing literacy. Participants will learn about the development and pilot implementation of a chatbot designed to help internal medicine clinicians navigate billing scenarios through interactive, case-based learning. The tool enables users to ask questions about assessment codes, premiums, common billing considerations and documentation requirements, receiving immediate feedback based on Ontario billing guidance.

Dr. Yousuf will share lessons learned from the design, implementation and early evaluation of the tool, including opportunities and limitations associated with AI-enabled physician education. Participants will gain practical insights into how conversational AI may support billing accuracy, reduce administrative burden and enhance the physician experience when used alongside existing clinical and administrative systems.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Understand how conversational AI can support physician education and billing literacy.
Identify the opportunities and limitations of AI-enabled educational tools for improving billing accuracy, efficiency and physician experience.
Discuss future opportunities for integrating AI-enabled billing support and educational tools within EMR workflows.

Speaker:

Haroon Yousuf, MD,

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3:35 P.M. to 4:35 P.M.

Closing keynote and closing remarks
From insight to action: AI survey findings

Speaker:

Chandi Chandrasena, MD, Chief Medical Officer, OntarioMD

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2027 Conference Dates

Wednesday, September 29, 2027 and Thursday, September 30, 2027
Automotive Building at Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario