Are your healthcare facilities grappling with the challenges of overcrowded Emergency Departments (EDs), overburdened care providers, and limited patient access to timely care? These issues impact all stakeholders: patients struggle to access appropriate care, hospitals face heightened operational demands, and healthcare systems incur substantial costs due to non-urgent ED visits. 

This session will showcase the results of a study that was conducted by Analysis Group, one of the largest international economic consulting firms. The study evaluated the financial impacts of a Healthcare Orchestration Platform, focusing on direct cost reductions associated with ER visits from a health system perspective. 

You will gain an understanding of how a healthcare authority, in collaboration with Petal, a leading digital company, successfully streamlined a series of processes aimed at reducing ED overcrowding. This session will highlight three strategic processes: 1) improving care access for unattached patients, 2) ensuring timely appointments for urgent cases, and 3) redirecting non-urgent visits away from EDs. These have collectively reduced over 800 ED visits per day – alleviating strain on hospitals, improving patient flow, and generating annual financial benefits of $73.8M.  

Discover how a connected system that centralizes data from nearly 20 IT systems— including provincial authentication systems, EMRs/EHRs, and booking portals—can successfully optimize access to primary care and ensure patients receive appropriate care more efficiently.  

This session will offer a unique opportunity for healthcare leaders to explore how strategic initiatives combined with innovative technology and intelligent processes can reshape care delivery and set new standards for sustainable, patient-centred healthcare. 

Presented by

Marie-Hélène Lafeuille, Vice President, Analysis Group, Petal Health

Marie-Hélène Lafeuille specializes in the application of biostatistics and economics to health economics and outcomes research. She brings extensive experience in analyzing retrospective databases, including medical claims, electronic health records, and clinical trial data, as well as in the design of chart review studies. Her expertise also extends to economic modeling, such as cost-effectiveness and budget impact models, as well as systematic literature reviews, including meta-analyses. 

Her research covers diverse areas, including clinical efficacy, safety profile, treatment patterns, direct and indirect healthcare resource utilization and costs, and cost-effectiveness across various therapeutic areas such as oncology, hematology, dermatology, neurology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, cardiology, and respiratory. Her work includes coauthoring more than 100 research papers, published in numerous peer-reviewed journal, and presented at a wide range of scientific conferences.

Elliott Desilets, Business Development Director, Petal Health

Elliot has over ten years of experience working with healthcare systems across Canada and the United States. He is currently the Director of Business Development, Public Sector (Western and Atlantic Canada) for Petal Health where he supports and leads engagements with stakeholders across Canada’s healthcare system related to improving access to care. Elliot also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the HIMSS Prairies Chapter and is an active member of Digital Health Canada.

This winter, master the fundamentals of Canadian health informatics

This compact virtual real-time series of courses will take learners through the core concepts of health informatics, equipping them with the essential knowledge and skills required to succeed in the Canadian digital health landscape.

Each session of this core health informatics learning series will be presented virtually by established Canadian digital health professionals with real-world experience, diverse regional perspectives, and proven expertise in their area of study.

The series' seven modules align with Digital Health Canada's defined Health Informatics Professional Core Competencies:

• Information Management
• Technology Ecosystem
• Clinical and Health Services
• The Canadian Health System
• Healthcare Transformation
• Project Management
• Analysis and Evaluation

PLUS a bonus session outlining the path to becoming a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems – Canada (CPHIMS-CA).

• Start Date: February 11, 2025
• End Date: March 6, 2025

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Earn 1 CEU for each hour of class time! 
Refer to the HIMSS renewal requirements guidelines for more information.

Comprehensive assessments of motor function are crucial for effective decision-making in neuromuscular rehabilitation. This is particularly critical post-stroke, where personalized therapy drives an individual’s abilities to be ambulatory and return to their community in the short term and effectively use their upper limbs in the long term. Current clinical practice, however, relies on self-reporting, subjective observation, or basic scales, which are limited by inconsistency, low sensitivity, ceiling effects, and continuous reliance on clinical personnel. Also, such assessments are typically conducted in larger clinical centres, posing accessibility challenges for many living in rural areas or long-term care homes.

We propose MotionInsight, a cost-effective, accessible, and user-friendly smartphone-based technology for objectively assessing motor function at point-of-need. Using artificial intelligence (AI), MotionInsight can objectively drive the personalized rehabilitation of gross/fine motor function of the upper arm/hand as well as balance in acute, inpatient, outpatient, community-based, and at-home settings.

MotionInsight encompasses an app that guides users through personalized assessments or training tasks and computer vision techniques to quantitatively track body segments. It also includes a secure database and website for data management and progress tracking. Using the latter, clinicians can prescribe new assessment and training tasks or kinematic metrics; and stroke survivors can track their progress.

MotionInsight addresses an unmet clinical need by proposing an adoptable solution that only relies on an end-user smartphone. MotionInsight strengthens Canada’s digital health ecosystem by accelerating innovations in digitally-informed and evidence-based clinical decision-making for care personalization post-stroke.

Presented by: 

Milad Nazarahari, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta

Milad Nazarahari began his tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta in January 2023. He is internationally recognized for his contributions to human movement analysis with wearable technologies. His current research is focused on developing cost-effective and efficient robotic systems to deliver assessment and intervention with minimum supervision and markerless motion capture systems for human movement analysis for out-of-the-lab applications. His research has been supported by NSERC, CFI, Alberta Innovates, and Google Inc. He is a Research Affiliate with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton and the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute at the University of Alberta. Before his appointment at the University of Alberta, he was an AMTD Waterloo Global Talent Postdoctoral Fellow for almost a year and a half, investigating computational methods for human-in-the-loop training personalization. He received his Ph.D. in August 2021 from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta.

Webinar Wednesday attendance is one of the benefits of Digital Health Canada Membership. Not a member yet? Join Digital Health Canada to enjoy Webinar Wednesdays and other benefits of membership. 

Background: Growing demands for mental health services have resulted in increased interest in virtual interventions delivered online and via mobile applications. Internet-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT) is an evidence-based intervention where users progress on their own time through online modules to modify maladaptive thinking and behaviour patterns and develop coping skills. While the efficacy of iCBT for anxiety and depression has been demonstrated in randomized controlled trials, we leveraged linked, health-administrative data to examine its real-world effectiveness, compared to standard CBT. 

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we compared individuals receiving iCBT (self-led, online modules with minimal, asynchronous therapist support) via a pilot program to those receiving standard CBT (scheduled, one-one-one, therapist-led sessions) in Ontario, Canada between Jan 2020 and Aug 2021. We utilized a Difference-in-Differences analysis to assess pre-post change in depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7) symptoms and examined mental health-related service utilization (emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and outpatient visits to psychiatrists and primary care providers) using Logistic and Negative Binomial regressions for binary and count outcomes, respectively. 
Results: Among N=167 individuals enrolled in iCBT and N=300 controls receiving standard CBT, we found that treatment modality was a significant predictor of pre-post symptom change (p<0.01 for DID coefficients), with standard CBT clients experiencing a greater reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms (a 4-point reduction in PHQ-9 and 3.6-point reduction in GAD-7), compared to iCBT clients (2.3-point reduction in PHQ-9 and 0.35-point increase in GAD-7), though sensitivity analyses restricting to treatment completers somewhat attenuated this finding. While both groups experienced a reduction in MH-related service use, iCBT clients were more likely to continue visiting both acute care (ORadj=2.92, 95% CI 1.29-6.64) and outpatient physicians (RRadj=1.32, 95% CI 1.03-1.69) 1-year post-treatment, adjusted for age, comorbidities, and baseline symptom severity.
Conclusions: In routine care, self-led iCBT appears to be less effective than standard CBT in terms of anxiety and depression symptoms and in terms of mental health-related service utilization. While iCBT remains a promising approach for leveraging technological innovation to meet access needs, the benefits of regular therapist contact cannot be overlooked.

Presented by:

Jenny Gatov, University of Toronto

Jenny is a PhD student at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), specializing in Health Informatics. Her dissertation focuses on evaluating the real-world impact of Internet-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT) in Ontario. She is currently conducting quantitative studies using linked health-administrative data to analyze patient characteristics, treatment completion, and outcomes, and is planning a qualitative study to support the broader implementation of iCBT in the province. With a background in psychology and a Master’s in epidemiology from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Jenny has over 10 years of experience in mental health services research using population-based methods and published over 20 peer-reviewed papers to date. Before pursuing her PhD, she led the COVID-19 mathematical modeling portfolio at Toronto Public Health and contributed to planning vaccine implementation in the city. Currently, she works as the Data & Analytics Lead at Creative Destruction Lab, a startup accelerator mentorship program that focuses on early-stage, science-based ventures.

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Earn One Continuing Education Unit (CEU) for attending this webinar. Content from the webinar aligns with Core Health Informatics Topics: The Canadian Healthcare System, Information Technology, Analysis and Evaluation

Webinar Wednesday attendance is one of the benefits of Digital Health Canada Membership. Not a member yet? Join Digital Health Canada to enjoy Webinar Wednesdays and other benefits of membership. 

Join us for snacks and socializing at this casual evening MeetUp in Toronto (conveniently taking place just before the ON25 Conference)! Digital Health Canada MeetUps offer opportunities to network with digital health professionals from your area in a relaxed atmosphere.

Your $36.75 registration fee includes snacks and one drinks ticket (soda, wine, or beer).

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Registration fees shown include 13% HST.

Registration Cancellation Policy: All sales are final, and there are no refunds. Substitutions are available until February 25, 2025. Prices are in Canadian dollars.

Connect with Ontario public and private sector leaders and innovators as they explore the issues that matter most to Ontario patients, caregivers, and digital health professionals—discussions that are the hallmark of the annual Digital Health Canada ON25 Conference (UpOnDigital: Update on Ontario Digital Health).

Connect with your Toronto peers: join us at the MeetUp event the night before the conference. Learn more and register here to save your spot.

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• Registration fees shown include 13% HST. 
• CPHIMS-CA Maintenance: Earn 5 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for attending this event.
• Cancellation policy: Registration cancellations received before 5:00 PM ET on January 24, 2025, will be eligible for a full refund. Registration cancellations received after 5:00 PM ET on January 24, 2025, are non-refundable. An alternate attendee’s name may be substituted until February 25, 2025 by sending a written substitution request to info@digitalhealthcanada.com. Any registration transferred from a member to a non-member will be adjusted to the non-member rate.
• Sponsorship Opportunities: To inquire about sponsoring this event, contact Dino Falvo.

We present a novel Neural-Symbolic Explainable-AI (XAI) framework, integrating state-of-the art semantic knowledge graphs and machine learning (ML) methods, to make the output of ML models transparent so they can be safely used in clinical settings. Current XAI methods explain the output of ML models simply in terms of feature importance. Our XAI framework generates health knowledge-driven decision paths, comprising clinical concepts and evidence drawn from the literature, to provide a clinically-interpretable trace of how the ML model has processed the input data to generate its output/predictions. We applied our XAI framework for organ transplantation decision support, where we generate and visualize decision paths comprising organ transplant concepts to explain the ML-model’s predictions of kidney transplant survival and donor-recipient matches, thus making complex ML models useful for organ transplantation.

Presented by:

Prof. Syed Sibte Raza Abidi, NICHE Research Group, Dalhousie University

Syed Sibte Raza Abidi is Professor of Computer Science and Medicine at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. He is the scientific lead of the NICHE (kNowledge Intensive Computing for Healthcare Enterprises) research group that conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of AI, health and digital health. He has over 25 years of research and innovation experience of AI-driven health data analytics and health knowledge management.  He has developed over 40 AI-driven digital health solutions targeting clinical decision support, clinical guideline execution, digital therapeutics and personalized patient empowerment. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed research papers at top venues, secured over $18 million in research grants and supervised over 100 graduate students. He is the recipient of the Canadian Health Informatics Leadership Award, International Award for Innovation in Medical Informatics, Research Excellence Award and multiple best paper awards. He is the Board Member of International Association of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and past board member of Digital Health Canada.

Dr. Jaber Rad, NICHE Research Group, Dalhousie University

Jaber Rad is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University, where he recently completed his Ph.D. in the field of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is a member of the NICHE research group. His research lies at the intersection of Semantic Web technologies and Machine Learning, with particular focus on generating explanations to interpret the predictions of complex ML models. He has published his research at international AI conferences. He also has expertise in visual analytics and is currently working on a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) project to develop an analytical dashboard that monitors antibiotic consumption for promoting effective antimicrobial stewardship. Dr. Rad is passionate about advancing AI's reliability and interpretability in healthcare settings.

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Earn One Continuing Education Unit (CEU) for attending this webinar. Content from the webinar aligns with Core Health Informatics Topics: The Canadian Healthcare System, Information Technology, Analysis and Evaluation

Webinar Wednesday attendance is one of the benefits of Digital Health Canada Membership. Not a member yet? Join Digital Health Canada to enjoy Webinar Wednesdays and other benefits of membership. 

The Canadian FHIR Exchange Specifications (Ca:FeX), developed by Canada Health Infoway, supports seamless health information exchange across Canadian healthcare systems using the FHIR standard. It enables interoperability by providing guidelines tailored to the Canadian healthcare ecosystem, focusing on harmonizing data exchange so that systems across provinces, territories, and organizations can communicate effectively. This addresses the unique needs of operationalizing a specification after it has been adopted. Venuiti Healthcare has already implemented Ca:FeX for one of our clients, and we’d like to share our learnings from this project.

Presented by:

Alexey Sidelnikov, Venuiti Healthcare 

Alexey is an innovative, results-driven technology leader with 10+ years of proven CTO / CIO experience and 20+ years building state-of-the-art technology. A problem-solver with a passion for technology; he is skilled in grasping the big picture, conceptualizing, developing, and implementing the highest quality solutions.

He began his health-tech journey working with the National Institute of Health (NIH) under the United States Government, contributing to groundbreaking advancements in the Human Genome Project. Since then, he has gone on to spearheaded multiple large-scale projects at Venuiti, leading highly focused technical teams that drive innovation and success in health-tech.

Shannon Teeter, Venuiti Healthcare

Shannon is a visionary leader and a passionate advocate for leveraging technology to revolutionize the healthcare industry. With over 15 years of experience in the health-tech sector, she has been at the forefront of driving innovation and implementing cutting-edge solutions that improve patient outcomes and streamline healthcare operations.

Her journey in health-tech began with a deep-seated love for research and a desire to bridge the gap between technology and practical healthcare applications. This foundation has fueled her commitment to evidence-based approaches and continuous learning.

At Venuiti Healthcare, Shannon spearheads initiatives that harness the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics to create innovative health solutions. Under her leadership, the company has achieved significant milestones, including applications she has worked on deployed on the region, national and international stage. 

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Earn One Continuing Education Unit (CEU) for attending this webinar. Content from the webinar aligns with Core Health Informatics Topics: The Canadian Healthcare System, Information Technology, Analysis and Evaluation

Webinar Wednesday attendance is one of the benefits of Digital Health Canada Membership. Not a member yet? Join Digital Health Canada to enjoy Webinar Wednesdays and other benefits of membership. 

An AI-driven referral system is being developed to optimize discharge planning for youth mental health crises. By integrating data extracted from electronic health records and matching patients with appropriate community services, it improves referral accuracy, expedites planning, reduces emergency wait times and readmissions, ensuring better patient outcomes and reduced costs.

Presented by:

Fatemeh Bagheri, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto

Fatemeh Bagheri earned her BSc in Biomedical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology and an MSc in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto. Her academic interests include Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Computer Vision, Medical Image Processing, and Biomedical Signal Processing. During her master’s studies, she focused on enhancing the quality of MR images by predicting high-field MR images from low-field ones using generative models. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Toronto, where her research focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence to develop a referral system aimed at optimizing discharge planning for youth in mental health crises.

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Earn One Continuing Education Unit (CEU) for attending this webinar. Content from the webinar aligns with Core Health Informatics Topics: The Canadian Healthcare System, Information Technology, Analysis and Evaluation

Webinar Wednesday attendance is one of the benefits of Digital Health Canada Membership. Not a member yet? Join Digital Health Canada to enjoy Webinar Wednesdays and other benefits of membership. 

Join us in Toronto from June 1 – 3 for e-Health25!

e-Health is the premier event for Canadian digital health professionals working to make a difference in health and healthcare delivery.

Since its inception in 2000, the e-Health Conference and Tradeshow has served as a vital epicentre of Canadian digital health discussion and debate, attracting over 1,000 health professionals annually. e-Health is the optimal spot for networking and knowledge sharing with peers nationally and around the globe.

With in-demand speakers, expert panellists and presenters, and leading-edge exhibitors, e-Health always delivers memorable education and networking opportunities.

Join us as we celebrate 25 years of e-Health!

Visit the e-Health website to learn more.

All CHIEF Executive Forum members are invited to attend the CHIEF Executive Forum Spring25 Reception in Toronto on June 3, 2025. Reserve your spot by registering today or send an email confirming your attendance to chief@digitalhealthcanada.com.

Your CHIEF Membership includes registration at both the Spring and Fall Symposia and Receptions, however, to reserve your place and ensure everyone will be comfortably accommodated, separate confirmation is required for each of the events.

Join us for this knowledge-sharing, learning, and networking event with public and private sector digital health leaders from across Canada. Reserve your seat at the table where important digital health conversations happen.

All CHIEF Executive Forum members are invited to attend the CHIEF Executive Forum Spring25 Symposium, taking place in Toronto on June 4. The Symposium experience will kick off on June 3 with a CHIEF Executive Forum networking reception after the close of the e-Health25 Conference and Tradeshow.

All Digital Health Canada Members are encouraged to register and attend the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, June 18 from 12 - 1 PM ET. 

The following matters will constitute the Agenda of the Digital Health Canada Annual General Meeting 2025 (Virtual):

1. Call to Order
2. Approval of the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held June 19, 2024
3. President's Report
4. CEO Report
5. Treasurer's Report and Audited Financial Statements for Fiscal Period ending March 31, 2025
6. Appointment of the Auditor for 2025-2026
7. Board Development Committee Report on Nominations and Elections
8. Introduction of Incoming Board of Directors
9. Other Business
10. Adjournment