June 2026
Tips and advice on EMRs, AI and digital health tools you can use NOW
From the Chief Medical Officer
Digital health isn’t accessible for everyone – that’s a problem
Digital health tools are everywhere now. Booking appointments online, virtual visits, patient portals, health apps, and more have all become part of everyday health care. On the surface, it seems like a win: faster care, fewer trips, more convenience. But the reality is not all patients can access or use these tools easily. Here’s why:
- Not everyone has a smartphone, computer, or even internet connection.
- Apps and portals can be confusing, especially for those uncomfortable with technology and even more so for those with language barriers or accessibility challenges.
- Concerns about the use of health-related data is still top of mind.
To make digital health truly equitable, we must keep non-digital options available, design tools that are simple and inclusive and support patients in learning how to use them. Digital health has huge potential, but If we’re not careful, it can leave some people behind. Closing that gap is the key to building a more equitable healthcare system. Through initiatives like our Peer Leader Program, which equips clinicians with practical guidance, real-world workflows, and peer-driven support to implement digital tools in ways that are accessible and inclusive, OntarioMD is doing its part to ensure digital health works for everyone—not just those who can easily navigate it.
More importantly, we want to hear from you. How are digital health tools working in your practice? What challenges are your patients facing—and what solutions have you found effective? Share your feedback and insights to help shape more equitable digital care across Ontario by emailing maria.miceli@ontariomd.com.
Digital Health Advocacy and Education
Discover why clinicians keep coming back to our in-person Digital Health Conference. This fall, learn practical digital tips to improve your workflow, explore physician‑led sessions on managing tech overload, and discover the latest AI tools and vendor solutions—all in one place. Join us for the 2026 Digital Health Conference, October 1-2 at Toronto’s Exhibition Place. Ask your OHT to sponsor you!
Early bird registration is available for $100 in savings. Get even more savings with group registration!
Looking to sponsor or exhibit?
The conference offers opportunities for heightened engagement, visibility, and exposure, including:
- Multi-channel and customizable sponsorship opportunities
- Exhibit in the Vendor Showcase and Start-Up Zone, with strategically timed breaks to drive booth traffic
- Exclusive sponsored speaking opportunities (limited availability)
- Marketing opportunities, such as bag inserts, email blasts, social media callouts, email blasts and more
View the Sponsorship Prospectus
Digital Health Virtual Symposium recordings available now!
Our Digital Health Virtual Symposium on April 24, 2026, was a hit! With 700+ attendees, the symposium featured a keynote address, “Hope for Technology in Practice”, by Dr. Darren Larsen on identifying digital trends and reducing the use of technology that doesn’t benefit practice workflows.
Couldn’t attend? You can still purchase all 15 session recordings for $99.99. This includes access to sessions and panels on topics such as AI scribes, privacy and security, FHO+ billing, eReferral, reducing administrative burden and more!
eForms Ontario & eOrdering Ontario Coming Soon!
More provincial digital tools from Ontario Health are coming your way to help reduce administrative burden.
The eForms Ontario platform reduces paper and fax-based workflows, eliminates redundancies caused by incomplete or incorrect information and offers a more secure and efficient way to complete forms.
The eOrdering Ontario platform will simplify ordering a wide variety of medical and diagnostic tests by auto-populating clinic and patient information, submitting the forms digitally and reducing paperwork.
OntarioMD will be reaching out to clinicians to participate in the limited launch of these two new OH products in the coming weeks.
For practical tips and resources, including webinars, toolkits, and more, on using your EMR and digital health tools, visit OMDEducates.com.
Looking for guidance on the use of AI tools, EMRs, HRM or other technologies? OntarioMD can speak to your group, OHT, or PCN based on your needs. Send your request to omd.events@ontariomd.com.
AI Tools: Beyond Scribes
Excited about AI, but overwhelmed by the information out there? Whether you’re a family physician, community consulting specialist, nurse practitioner or a clinic/practice, OMD is your go-to resource for using any AI tool in clinical practice. Here’s what we’re working on:
- First province-wide community clinician survey on the use of AI – from scribes to clinical decision support (CDS) tools and more. The survey generated strong interest, with over 1,600 responses, making it the largest survey of AI used by clinicians conducted in Ontario. We’re excited to share the results with you next month!
- AI-Clinical Decision Support (CDS) pilot to improve type 2 diabetes care. Next month, we’ll share the results of a groundbreaking pilot that tested an AI-CDS tool to identify and manage patients with type 2 diabetes and optimize care for these patients.
- Understanding AI inbox assistant solutions. In partnership with the Ontario Medical Association, OMD is exploring the impact of these tools in reducing administrative burden, improving workflow efficiency, and supporting the management of incoming clinical and administrative information for community-based clinicians. Early results indicate AI Inbox solutions are starting to deliver real value in terms of time savings, by as much as 3 hours per day according to study participants. However, they do not yet function as true end-to-end inbox solutions and benefits are dependent on time investment during initial implementation. Stay tuned for the AI Inbox Assistant study report.
Looking for more learnings on AI? Join us at this upcoming event:
- Queen’s University AI in Medicine Virtual Series: Dr. Chandi Chandrasena will speak at lunch time on Administrative AI in Practice: Scribes, Scheduling & Referrals on June 25, 2026.
New AI scribe vendors have been added to the Ontario AI Scribe Program! If you’re currently negotiating or renewing a contract with one of the vendors recently added to the program’s list (for example, Heidi Health, MD Voice, or others), or nearing the end of your free trial, spare yourself the researching hassle. Sign up for more favourable terms and pricing with the Ontario AI Scribe Program. AI scribes hold great value for family physicians, specialists, and nurse practitioners alike, so don’t miss out! Hear what Dr. Darren Larsen has to say about them.
For more information on the Ontario AI Scribe Program, visit the OMD Practice Hub for the Vendor of Record list, program video, and frequently asked questions on the Ontario AI Scribe Program.
Read our response to the Ontario Auditor General’s report on the use of AI in the Ontario Government.
Digital Tip from Our Readers
Make AI scribe consent easy for patients
This month’s tip comes from Dr. Michelle Greiver, a family physician with the North York Family Health Team.
AI scribes can help reduce documentation burden, but patient consent should be easy to manage and change. If you use an AI scribe in practice, consider building patient consent into your workflow to ensure patients understand what the tool does, how their information is handled, and that they can decline or pause its use during visits at any time.
Consider these practical steps:
- Send AI scribe consent information before the visit, where possible. This can be part of an automated reminder rather than asking for the same consent form to be resubmitted each time.
- Use an EMR flag or chart note to show whether the patient has consented or declined.
- Include a reminder that patients can change their decision at any time.
- Ask for verbal confirmation before starting the scribe at the start of each visit.
- Review and correct every AI-generated note before it is finalized.
- AI scribe templates can include a note that verbal consent was obtained and that the note was reviewed and corrected, if needed, by the clinician.
Tip: Administrative steps can be automated but keep the patient conversation human. Patients should know that AI scribe use is optional and that declining it will not affect their care.
Family doctors, community-based specialists, nurse practitioners, and primary care clinics are at the heart of patient care. OMD spotlights their role in championing innovation and adopting new technologies by showcasing their tips and best practices.
Share your digital tip with clinician colleagues in this section by emailing maria.miceli@ontariomd.com.
OMD Advisor Tip
June is Men’s Health Month
Take the opportunity to support proactive prostate health discussions with patients in June. Prostate cancer affects 1 in 8 men. PSA testing can support earlier detection but is guided by individual risk factors and patient preference. In Ontario, discussions typically begin around age 50 (45 for higher risk patients), and testing is covered when medically indicated. Use your EMR to identify patients who may benefit from a prostate health discussion. Questions? Contact support@ontariomd.com to connect with a Practice Enhancement Consultant (PEC) for advice.
OMD Advisors develop useful tools and provide valuable advice to clinicians anywhere in Ontario. They can help you with provincial digital health tools, not just EMRs. Take advantage of these services, at no cost to you, before calling anyone else! Check out the OMD Advisors’ tools, toolkits and other useful resources at OMDEducates.com.
From the General Counsel and CPO
Beyond Documentation: AI and Clinical Decision-Making
It is a well-known fact that artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving in health care. While AI scribes have already helped many clinicians reduce documentation burden and reclaim valuable time with patients, the next generation of tools is focused on supporting clinical decision-making by helping clinicians access relevant evidence and navigate increasingly complex care. The potential is significant. AI-powered clinical decision support (AI-CDS) tools may help bridge the long-standing gap between emerging medical evidence and routine clinical practice. At the same time, their use comes with important questions about privacy, safety, accountability, transparency, and professional responsibility.
Through our work with Ontario Health and other health system partners, OntarioMD is examining the legal and regulatory considerations associated with the use of AI-CDS while supporting an evaluation of their effectiveness in lab-based and clinical settings. As interest in AI continues to grow, it is essential to develop an aligned and strategic approach to addressing its safety and other issues such as transparency, consent, and liability. Our goal is to help ensure AI tools can be adopted responsibly, support clinician decision-making, protect patient information, and maintain trust in the delivery of care. The evidence-based approach of the evaluation will help develop risk mitigation strategies and other recommendations that are to be built into the future spread and scale of AI-CDS in Ontario.
Read more privacy and security tips
HRM Improvements
Turn down the noise: Stop HRM eNotifications
Since 2024, clinicians have had the option to stop HRM eNotifications.Whether you stop them or continue to receive them, the choice is all yours!
HRM / fax pilot project for pathology results
Lumeo recently piloted pathology result distribution via HRM from six hospitals in southeast Ontario to a select group of primary care clinicians. As part of the second phase, we are now expanding the pilot to include all primary care clinicians, referring clinicians, and copied to (cc’d) clinicians using HRM. Read more details about the pilot.
OMD For The Win
Digital Health Leadership
Dr. Chandi Chandrasena, Chief Medical Officer, OMD, was named the 2026 Digital Health Canada Leadership Award winner for her outstanding contribution to digital health. Congratulations, Dr. Chandrasena!
SWAAY.Health
OMD was named the winner of the prestigious 2026 Swaay.Health Award of the Year for its OntarioMD.live conference website.
OMD in the News
- Read our blog to discover how OMD can help ease the transition of setting up a new clinic, with services to help you hit the ground running.
- Read our blog on the value of OMD’s free and recently updated Privacy & Security Training for the Healthcare Sector to help ensure you protect what matters most.
Partner News
Tools from the Centre for Effective Practice (CEP)
New Tool: Psoriasis
CEP’s latest clinical tool on psoriasis supports primary care clinicians accurately diagnose and implement tailored treatment plans for individuals living with psoriasis across a range of disease severities, enabling timely care. The tool provides evidence-based guidance on assessment, diagnosis (including in skin of colour) and support navigating the range of topical and systemic treatment options, along with referral and follow-up care.
Free Academic Detailing on Psoriasis Pharmacotherapy
Tailored 1:1 education on psoriasis pharmacotherapy is also available! Meet virtually or in person with an academic detailing pharmacist and get answers to your questions on:
- Implementing a pharmacological treatment approach that considers disease severity, body site and patient preferences
- Understanding topical and systemic therapy options and how they compare
- Choosing the most appropriate regimen for the patient’s symptoms, risk factors and circumstances
- Monitoring and adjusting therapy based on shared goals for therapy
- Much more!
New Tool: Endometriosis
CEP’s latest clinical tool on endometriosis supports primary care clinicians in recognizing symptoms and risk factors, helping to reduce diagnostic delays. The tool provides evidence-based guidance on assessment and diagnosis, including resources to support assessment, considerations for fertility and long-term management, and navigation of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment options through shared decision-making. It also offers clear direction on when to refer to specialists and how to support ongoing follow-up care.
Stay current with Ontario Health Virtual Visits Verification
The Virtual Visits Verification (VVV) Program helps clinicians identify virtual care tools that meet Ontario Health’s privacy, security and functionality standards. Register today for an easier way to stay up to date on which virtual care solutions are safe and reliable!
Need EMR Help?
Your EMR should be a benefit, not a burden. In addition to our OMD Advisory Service and Peer Leaders, OMD has COMPLIMENTARY resources to help you use your certified EMR better. Find out how we can help you.
Join a Community of Practice (CoP)! CoP is a virtual place for EMR, AI, and digital health tool users, including clinicians and office staff, to share their knowledge, discover upcoming changes, ask questions, and learn from vendors and other users. Find out more about OMD Communities of Practice.
Important Reminders
If you plan on:
- Moving, joining or taking over a practice
- Changing internet plans or providers
- Changing EMRs
Contact support@ontariomd.com at least two (2) weeks in advance to ensure you continue to receive HRM reports.