Canada’s health-care system is under sustained strain – and the pressure is being felt across patients, providers, and institutions alike.
- Nearly 6.5 million Canadians do not have a regular primary care provider.
- Up to 30 per cent of hospital spending is tied to administrative inefficiencies and fragmented systems.
- Demand for mental health services continues to outpace capacity, particularly among frontline and public safety personnel.
- Patients in rural and remote communities face longer wait times and reduced access to specialized care.
The challenge isn’t a lack of innovation. It’s a lack of integration.
Care delivery remains fragmented across systems and geographies. As Canada’s capital, Ottawa is well positioned to help change that – with organizations like Calian connecting care across the country.
Digital integration: Building the backbone of connected care
Integrated care starts with infrastructure. Calian, headquartered in Ottawa, is helping health-care organizations build the digital backbone to connect providers and patients, enabling care to move more seamlessly across settings.
Through proprietary digital platforms, Calian supports secure information sharing, integrated workflows, and real-time insights that reduce administrative burden and improve decision-making.
At the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub in Orléans, this model is already in action – bringing hospital services, community providers, and specialized programs into a coordinated system.
“We needed a platform that provided flexibility and agility to meet ever-growing and changing demands. And with the Corolar™ platform, we now have that,” said Philippe Marleau, then Montfort Hospital’s vice-president of quality and patient support services.
The result: more seamless care, improved patient experience, and stronger collaboration.
Supporting public safety: mental health, readiness, and resilience
Public safety personnel face significantly higher rates of psychological stress, with up to 44 per cent screening positive for one or more mental health conditions.
Calian supports this workforce through psychological assessments, tailored mental health programs, and ongoing wellness services designed for frontline realities.
These services support individual well-being while strengthening workforce readiness, reducing absenteeism, and helping ensure continuity of critical public services.
Patient support programs and community-based care: expanding access
Equitable access to specialty care remains a persistent challenge.
Fragmented data, manual workflows, and inflexible program models delay access, increase costs, and impact patient experience.
Calian helps accelerate access to therapy and streamline coordination through digitally enabled patient support programs (PSPs) and community-based care models.
This supports faster onboarding, fewer treatment delays, and more consistent experiences, while extending care closer to where patients live – particularly in remote and underserved communities.
From Ottawa to impact: Leading connected care in Canada
For more than 20 years, Calian has supported health-care organizations across Canada by combining clinical expertise, digital innovation, and operational scale to address complex system challenges.
As Ottawa continues to invest in health-care innovation, the opportunity is clear: move beyond isolated solutions and build a more connected, accessible system of care.
“Ottawa has all the ingredients to lead in clinical innovation,” says Nancy White, Calian’s vice-president of sales and business development, health. “The real impact comes when that innovation is connected to care delivery – making it scalable, accessible, and meaningful for patients.”
Because when care is connected across systems, communities, and people, everyone benefits.
This article first appeared in the Executive Report on Health Innovation in the June Magazine produced by the Ottawa Business Journal. That publication is available in it’s digital format below:
