Canada’s aging population and rising prevalence of chronic disease are exposing the limits of a healthcare system historically organized around episodic, facility-based care. By 2030, 9.3 million Canadians will be 65 or older, while millions of older adults are already managing multiple chronic conditions that require continuous monitoring, coordinated transitions, and long-term care across settings. These changing needs are unfolding within a healthcare system facing significant constraints in access, continuity, and workforce capacity: one in seven emergency department visits could have been managed in primary care, while Canada is projected to face shortages of 78,000 physicians by 2031 and 117,600 nurses by 2030.
In our newest policy brief, Transforming Senior Healthcare in Canada: Embracing Connected Care, AI, and Digital Innovation, we examine how connected-care models can help Canada respond to these changing care needs and support more continuous, coordinated care for older adults with chronic and complex needs.
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The brief examines how remote patient monitoring, virtual care, digital therapeutics, AI-enabled tools, and hybrid care teams can support chronic disease management, aging in place, and a shift toward more continuous care across settings. Drawing on examples from Toronto Grace Health Centre, University Health Network’s Medly program, TELUS Health, and Sweden’s Medoma, it illustrates how these approaches are already being applied across the care continuum, from hospital-to-home transitions and remote monitoring to chronic disease management and acute care at home.
Supporting broader adoption requires attention to the system-level conditions that shape implementation and scale. The brief proposes a 360-degree systems framework built around four interdependent pillars: digital infrastructure and interoperability, funding model reform, hybrid workforce deployment, and equity-focused design. At its centre is a Connected Care Policy Sandbox, through which provinces and territories could test and refine promising models while building comparable clinical, operational, and economic evidence to inform future policy and investment decisions.
Authored by Mariya Tsybulnyk (MBA ’24) and Renee Hueston (MBA ’24), under the guidance of Professor Romel Mostafa, Director of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management, and Zsofia Agoston Villalba, Policy and Communications Specialist, LNC, with review from policy and industry experts.
Generous support from the Lawrence Family, Baran Family Foundation, Canada Life Research Fund, Power Corporation of Canada, and Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab at Ivey Business School is gratefully acknowledged.