Oh! Autumn is suddenly upon us. So today I share a last look at a few sessions on Digital Health to cap off my over the summer news. Since 2021 there have been several webinars and podcasts I’ve attended on this subject area; from the Sandra Rotman Centre for Health Sector Strategy, Digital Health Canada, Canada Health InfowayandDeloitte Future of Health – to note but a few among many other groups who include Digital Health as an item in their general content.
At a time when AI dominates the headlines in so many ways, if not with confusing or complex explanations, certainly often quite over-hyped, I find it useful to distill as much information as possible in specific contexts, even if it serves my knowledge bank marginally more than the all over the map headlines. Just how are AI and other forms of digital technologies working in particular at the front end and back end of our social and health services?
With the focus on Community-Driven Innovation in Underserved Settings – part of their Connected Care in Actionseries, it was an informative Longwoods Leadership Discussion session on Aug.26th in partnership with Canada Health Infoway where we were once again reminded that access to care is not evenly distributed across the country and that is notable with respect to rural and Indigenous communities as it was central to the conversation in this session.
By way of one example of bridging gaps in access, Dr. Ivar Mendez – Director, Saskatchewan Virtual Health Hub spoke of this new hub centre set to open in early 2027, designed to support the delivery of healthcare services for Saskatchewan’s rural communities entirely remotely, which will include remote virtual care for mental health, patient monitoring and imaging diagnostic services and with the intent to include more Indigenous healthcare providers.
On the Sept. 8thDeloitte Primary Care Summit the focus was Transformation, and first up it was Dr. Karen Kirkham – Chief Medical Officer, Deloitte UK who spoke to the National Health Service (NHS) being at an existential break point with its stretched health service, which rings similar in varying degrees for most countries around the world. Certainly if this is a transformation point, how conditions improve will be in large part achieved on several levels at the same time.
In the UK, to address this break point, the government issued in July 2025 a new report – Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England. As I’ve come to expect from hearing numerous panels of multi-disciplinary health care professionals, the attention points for improvement amount to the same as in the UK report:
Neighbourhood health service – continuous, accessible and integrated care (hospital to home)
Analogue to digital – digitally accessible health system (patients have a ‘doctor in their pocket’)
From sick care to prevention – harnessing cross-societal initiatives on prevention messaging
Speaking of the many components in the integration of systems of care, a question I placed in the Deloitte Q&A was about Social Prescribing (SP) and I was disappointed by the almost lacklustre response included in remarks from Dr. Jay Bhatt – Managing Director, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions US, acknowledging that SP is still growing and measurement of results is needed and maybe we need to condense the number of service organizations involved. Maybe I was expecting more but it further proves that Social Prescribing needs more champions.
In part 2 of the Deloitte session we heard from Canadian speakers with discussion on such items as Primary Care Networks in Alberta from Dr. Brad Bahler – Medical Director, Health Innovation Group; and from Ontario, Chris Sulway – Chief of Strategy, Growth & Stakeholder Relations, OntarioMD who spoke on three areas where innovation and investment is at work in this age of healthcare systems transformation which to no surprise is everything about technology.
Front and back end these include investment in the structure of digital care in front line delivery, where more focus on change management facilitation is going to be needed (here come consultants), improved interoperable data flow providing feedback to clinicians, and a pick up in the use of AI Scribingso that primary care clinicians can now spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients. In Ontario for example the adoption rate on AI Scribing is 35 percent.
Quite a way to end the summer, soaking up this ever evolving news on Digital Health. But if this period of transformation in primary care is going to take up to ten years, as the UK plan suggests, then we should all stay educated, knowing there is perpetual technology change making each contact point with primary care different every time. Developing personal agency is paramount.
