Digital Health Canada and ANHIX (the Alberta Network for Health Information Exchange) together hosted the 2026 Alberta Region Conference in Calgary on Tuesday, February 3—marking 13 years of bringing together Alberta digital health professionals to focus in issues of importance in the region.

The day kicked off with opening remarks from Chris Carvalho, Shelagh Maloney, and Kevin Jones, setting the tone for a thoughtful and forward-looking discussion on the future of digital health.

The opening keynote, Beyond the Fax: Digital Referrals in Alberta, featuring Quinn Mah (Assistant Deputy Minister, Primary and Preventative Health Services), Jill Robert (Executive Director, Referral Management, Primary Care Alberta), and Dr. Ron Shute (Medical Director, Informatics, Alberta Medical Association), showcased Alberta’s progress in modernizing referrals, moving away from the fax toward integrated digital workflows that close the communication loop between primary care, specialists, and patients.

Amazing turnout yesterday with 180 people in attendance! Loved the thought provoking discussions and networking opportunities.  – Wendy Tegart, Director, Provincial Technology Services, Alberta Health

The Bridging the Gap in Women’s Health panel, led by Kate Ellis (Co-Founder, femtech W), Dr. Colleen Norris (Professor and Associate Dean of Research, University of Alberta), and Carmen Wyton (Chair & Founder, Women’s Health Coalition of Canada), delivered a powerful and thought-provoking discussion on how digital health can advance equity, access, and more personalized care in women’s health and what’s needed next to advance women’s health through digital solutions.

Leading Real-World Solutions for Patient-Centred Care (sponsored by Health Cities) featuring Steve Kovacic (VP & Chief Innovation Officer, The Good Samaritan), Jeff MacKay (VP, Health Coalition Alberta Board of Directors), and Shauna Thome (Executive Director, Crowfoot Village Family Practice), explored how person-centred care is strengthened when solutions are co-developed with those who use and deliver care, and when digital health innovations are designed for real-world clinical and community settings. Through practical examples and lived experience, speakers highlighted what it takes to move from promising ideas to solutions that work in practice.highlighted practical, co-developed digital solutions designed with patients, providers, and communities.

I was encouraged by the enthusiasm and passion of all presenters and by the many thoughtful conversations during breaks. – Drew Lenardon, Managing Director, Euphoria Sales Partners

Next up was Practical Solutions to Real World Problems, highlighting three digital health projects built to solve concrete, real-world problems: Project One: Mind the Gap: Enhancing Continuity for Unattached Patients Through Digital Bridges; Project Two: First Nations Community Paramedicine Service; and Project Three: Linking Diabetes Care: An Integrated Digital Health Approach to Diabetes with First Nations in Alberta (LINK). Presenters included Annie Fong, Clinical Nurse Educator, Alberta Health Services; Leanne Kiss, Program Manager – Service Delivery, Calgary and Area Primary Care Networks
Darren Lau, Assistant Professor, University of Alberta; Dr. Taft Micks, Chief Medical Officer, QDoc Inc.; and Dr. Norm Silver, CEO, QDoc Inc.

In Pan-Canadian approaches to addressing health workforce issues, Sean Chilton, Chief Executive Officer, Health Workforce Canada highlighted what pan‑Canadian data reveals about the health workforce, and how Health Workforce Canada is supporting jurisdictions with shared evidence and insights to address these challenges.

The conference marked a valuable moment to connect with digital health leaders, policymakers, and innovators from across Alberta and beyond. – Monica Schagen, Counselor for Health, Welfare and Sport to Canada and the United States, Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport

The day concluded with Building Trusted Health Data Ecosystems: From Europe to the World. Monica Schagen, Counselor for Health, Welfare and Sport to Canada and the United States, Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, shared insights on the European Health Data Space (EHDS). Her presentation illustrated how interoperability, data quality, and responsible data use come together, and why aligning data standards across borders is critical to enabling research, AI, and global digital health innovation.