Connected Care in Action: Real Progress, Real Stories, Real Impact is a five-part national webinar series hosted by Longwoods and Canada Health Infoway. It’s about what’s working, what we’re learning, and how we move forward, together. Each session explores a key piece of Canada’s connected care journey, spotlighting the real-world innovations –and the people behind them– that are reshaping the system.

This first presentation explores how a new generation of tools – AI scribes– is beginning to shift that balance. Designed to support clinicians by streamlining documentation in real time, these secure, AI-powered solutions are gaining traction across Canada and internationally. But what are they, how do they work, and what does responsible adoption look like in a Canadian context?

What You’ll Learn

• Why documentation burden is a key driver of clinician burnout in Canada
• What AI scribes are, how they work, and where they’re gaining traction
• How AI is being responsibly integrated into real-world clinical workflows
• The role of AI in improving data flow, interoperability, and clinician experience
• How innovative tools and programs are accelerating Canada’s journey to more connected, patient-centred care

More information and learning resources

The stigma associated with menopause continues to be pervasive and harmful for many women. The misinformation and shame associated with menopause often discourages open discussion, limits education, and results in inadequate opportunities for meaningful support and care. As a result, many women suffer in silence.  Both the silence and suffering are unacceptable.

The good news? There is life beyond stigma. This Longwoods Leadership Discussion assembles a panel of experts who are focused on elevating the voices of women experiencing menopause to provide clear, actionable strategies healthcare providers, policy makers, employers and other allies can use to help ensure women are empowered to ask for and receive the support they need from their personal and professional networks.

The discussion will include personal sharing along with recommendations drawn from the panelists’ individual experience and expertise. The time is now to tackle the stigma associated with menopause and help eliminate both the silence and the suffering of Canadian women.

With Canada’s age demographics continuously shifting, policymakers and science hubs have invested in strategies that can better serve our social, economic, and healthcare infrastructures. This session will focus on the latter, highlighting recent advancements for optimizing infectious disease mitigation through vaccination, and deconstructing the necessary strategies to bolster healthy aging via immunization.

With vaccination as a cornerstone for public health, this dynamic and engaging panel of global experts will discuss where we stand in Canada regarding the current state of vaccine uptake, knowledge dissemination and vaccine education, and the potential future of precision immunization. Participants will gain insights into how policy developments and innovative strategies can drive these advancements and their impact on our public healthcare system. 

Over the past thirty years, groundbreaking innovations have saved and transformed thousands of lives of Canadians with cancer. Immunotherapies and precision medicines in particular have made huge strides for many cancer types, including lung, prostate and melanoma, sometimes turning a diagnosis people dread into something that requires less invasive treatments. However, some cancer types are far more difficult to treat: they are particularly aggressive and very hard to eradicate, including rare lung tumours, glioblastoma, as well as pancreatic, liver and gynecological cancers. Other countries have dedicated research programs for hard-to-treat cancers, while the world’s top medical centres are developing new diagnostics and medicines, often using tried-and-true therapeutics combined with new treatments. What can Canadian researchers, clinicians, cancer agencies and patient leaders do differently to shift the survival curves and help cancer patients live longer and with a better quality of life? 

Ontario faces a significant challenge: 2.5 million Ontarians do not have a family doctor or any other access to primary care, and that number is projected to grow to 4.4 million people in 2026. This challenge is even greater for people in Ontario living with complex, difficult to manage chronic diseases as they struggle to access the comprehensive, team-based care they need, close to home and in communities. The journey of health system transformation requires the development, implementation and evaluation of innovative models of team-based care. This panel discussion will explore tangible solutions to achieve Ontario’s ambitious goal of connecting every Ontarian with team-based primary care within five years. We will examine the success of exemplar models like Best Care, a physician-led integrated chronic disease management program that has avoided up to 24000 hospital bed days over three years, saving the health system more than $37 million in hospitalization costs. Access to team-based primary care for effective chronic disease management is how Ontario can improve patient experience and outcomes, improve the provider experience and create millions of dollars in savings across the continuum of care.

This event is supported by Best Care who aspires to set Ontario Health on a path to improve lives of those living with chronic diseases and reduce the health system costs. Information on Best Care can be found at www.argi.on.ca

The Canadian Thoracic Society COPD Guidelines were updated in the Fall of 2023. The evidence based recommendations represent a significant change in the pharmacological management of COPD when compared to the previous versions. They represent a pro-active management approach to improve quality of life, reduce the frequency and severity of exacerbations and reduce the mortality associated with COPD. In this seminar, an update will be provided as to the new guidance and a discussion on the need for provincial formularies to reassess how patients and physicians access COPD specific medications.