Clinician Voices as a Catalyst for Change – Exploring the Recommendations of the Digital Health Interoperability Task Force
Despite significant progress in the digitization of the healthcare system in Canada, most clinicians are still working in data silos, due to challenges with digital health system interoperability (connectedness of care).
A 2024 national physician survey, for example, noted that 35% of respondents spend more than 2 hours per day beyond what they should, to find information needed to provide care for patients. The disconnected nature of health information contributes to growing clinician stress levels and administrative burden, and is a significant risk to patient safety.
Working together, the CMA, CFPC, RCPSC, and Canada Health Infoway convened a task force of clinical leaders from across Canada to identify barriers and solutions to physician involvement in interoperable digital health activities.
The task force produced a report that outlined key challenges and practical solutions in five policy recommendations, required to advance connected care (interoperability).
This session will:
- Briefly review the recommendations of the Task Force.
- Profile new and emerging national and provincial/territorial activities intended to act upon the Task Force recommendations, including the national AI Scribe Investment Program.
- Engage participants on the path forward, by asking: how can clinicians be best supported to participate in a digitally connected healthcare system?
Speakers
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Dr. Rashaad Bhyat
Senior Clinical Leader, CIDH, Canada Health Infoway
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Dr. Rashaad Bhyat is an award-winning family physician with special expertise in Health Informatics and Digital Health, and an accomplished medical communicator. He is Senior Clinical Leader in the Centre for Clinical Innovation in Digital Health (CIDH) at Canada Health Infoway.
Over the past decade, he has advised Infoway on numerous strategic initiatives across Canada, including AI in health care, interoperability, virtual care, EMR/EHR adoption, electronic prescribing (PrescribeIT), increasing patient access to health records, clinician-focused digital transformation, and the successful Connected Care Clinician Innovation Grant initiative.
In addition to his medical training, Dr. Bhyat completed a Masters Certificate in Physician Leadership from York University’s Schulich School of Executive Management, a Certificate in Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare from McMaster University, and executive education in Leading Digital Transformation at Harvard Medical School. In 2024, he joined the new Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Medicine as Digital Health Thread Lead and Assistant Clinical Professor.
Recently, he co-chaired the Digital Health Interoperability Task Force, a joint initiative of the CMA, CFPC, Royal College, and Infoway, that released its report and recommendations in the fall of 2024. He also co-chaired the CanMEDS 2025 Data Informed Medicine Working Group, for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Currently he practices in an EMR-enabled family medicine clinic in Brampton, Ontario.
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