Government of Canada makes historic investment in Vital
The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, and healthcare leaders from across Canada gathered at St. Michael’s Hospital this week to launch Vital, a national health data platform enabled by $210 million in government and institutional funding.
Nearly 250 leading minds from academia, industry, military, government and public sector met at the Unity Health Toronto site to mark a new era in healthcare innovation and discovery – building on the new platform founded by St. Michael’s physicians Drs. Amol Verma and Fahad Razak and their collaborators across the country.
“Vital helps Canada learn from the care we already deliver, so we can deliver it better,” said Minister Solomon. “That is the core of Vital: a secure, privacy-preserving health infrastructure for Canadians’ most important data: their healthcare. It connects real-time hospital data for research and innovation, while protecting privacy and while respecting provincial oversight.”
Vital, a national platform coordinated from Unity Health Toronto, will connect near real-time data from hospitals across Canada, beginning with 160 hospitals in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, creating one of the most valuable health data resources in the world. Co-leads from the first three provinces were joined at the event by representatives from British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and the Northwest Territories, whose support paves the way for Vital to become a pan-Canadian network.
With Canada’s high-quality healthcare and diverse population, the health data from Vital will be sought-after by scientists and innovators to develop next-generation medical technology and enable research that improves care – here in Canada and worldwide.
Minister Solomon was joined by Maggie Chi, Parliamentary Secretary to the federal Minister of Health, Karim Bardeezy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry, Dr. Helena Jaczek, MP for Markham – Stouffville, and Dr. Danielle Martin, MP for University – Rosedale. Speakers at the announcement also included Altaf Stationwala, President and CEO of Unity Health; Melanie Woodin, President of the University of Toronto; Dr. David Naylor, Chair of the Vital Strategic Advisory Committee; Caroline Lidstone-Jones, CEO of the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council and Philippe Després and Dr. Neesh Pannu, Vital Co-Leads for Quebec and Alberta.
“[Vital] has a scope that could catalyze the development of countless Canadian startups applying artificial intelligence to optimize our health and our healthcare,” said Naylor, Chair of the Vital Strategic Advisory Committee and former President of the University of Toronto. “It has a breadth, given the wonderful diversity of Canada's communities, that will make our nation a global force in clinical trials with both public and private sponsors.”
The day was anchored with roundtable discussions and panels on emerging issues in health data and AI, including how AI can improve healthcare and the importance of trust in these technologies. The fundamental importance of privacy protection and data security was top of mind, as a key enabler of large-scale data platforms.
“Strong privacy and security measures are in place to safeguard the health data of Canadians, along with robust governance that shapes how data will be used,” said Verma, co-lead of Vital, internist at St. Michael’s Hospital, and the Temerty Professor of AI Research and Education in Medicine at the University of Toronto. “It is critical to protect our national data sovereignty by maintaining Canadian ownership and management of our health data and using it to advance the well-being of Canadians.”
The potential of Vital to support Canadian leadership in innovation with health data was a constant theme.
“Canada’s single-payer health system which captures data on more than 40 million individuals from coast to coast to coast and our incredibly diverse population – the most diverse among high-income countries – means that health research and discovery done here is relevant to the world. Its incredible scientists, such as recent Nobel Prize and Turing Award laureates, make Canada a unique ecosystem for innovation,” said Razak, co-lead of Vital, internist at St Michael’s Hospital, and the Canada Research Chair in Data-Informed Healthcare Improvement at the University of Toronto. “Vital is a vanguard investment to capitalize on that remarkable combination of Canadian assets.”
As a national leader in health AI, Unity Health has implemented many AI tools that are improving care outcomes for patients at its hospitals and beyond.
Some were demonstrated to government representatives and media during the event, including:
AI-powered patient monitoring
CHARTWatch monitors hospitalized patients in real-time and identifies those at high risk of unexpected death or transfer to an intensive care unit (ICU), sending an alert to doctors and nurses so they can intervene early. A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found a 26 per cent reduction in unanticipated mortality after the tool was implemented on the St. Michael’s general internal medicine unit.
Now in use on several units at Unity Health’s acute care hospitals, Vital creates infrastructure that will allow similar tools to be developed and evaluated across Canada, enhancing access to potentially life-saving new technologies.
Preventing delirium in hospitals
AI Models (AIM) to Prevent Delirium is one of Canada’s largest clinical trials of health AI technology. The AI tool predicts the risk of a hospitalized patient acquiring delirium in real-time so prevention strategies can be focused on patients who are most likely to develop the condition, with the goals of improving outcomes for patients and reducing burden on the hospital system.
Delirium is a state of severe brain dysfunction that affects how a person thinks, feels and understands what is happening around them. It affects about one in four adults hospitalized with medical or surgical problems. It typically impacts elderly people who are hospitalized due to their underlying medical issues, new medications and the unfamiliar surroundings and sleep disruptions.
Delirium can lead to dementia and a two-fold greater risk of mortality in hospital. In addition to the individual human cost of delirium, it also increases the economic burden on the healthcare system by significantly extending hospital stays and adding an estimated $11,000 in additional costs per hospital admission.
Up to 40 per cent of delirium cases are preventable, but prevention strategies are often difficult to sustain in the reality of a busy acute care unit, making targeted risk prediction highly valuable.
AIM to Prevent Delirium is being rolled out to 15,000 patients across 13 hospitals and, if successful, could be scaled across the country to help reduce the occurrence of this devastating condition.
The Vital team receives guidance from a Strategic Advisory Committee comprised of national leaders and experts:
- David Naylor (Chair), former President of the University of Toronto
- Hon. Rona Ambrose, former Minister of Health of Canada
- Helen Angus, former Deputy Minister of Health of Ontario
- Fabrice Brunet, former CEO of Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal
- Stafford Dean, Chief of Data and Analytics at Health Shared Services of Alberta
- Maha Katabi, General Partner of Sofinnova Partners
- Alika Lafontaine, former President of Canadian Medical Association
- David Loukidelis, former Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia
- Stephen Lucas, former Deputy Minister of Health for Canada
- Alies Maybee, Chair, Patient Advisors Network Canada
- Caroline Quach-Thanh, Chief Public Health Officer for Quebec
- Jeannie Shoveller, VP Research at Nova Scotia Health
- Kevin Smith, CEO of University Health Network
Thank you to our visionary supporters
The announcement, delivered on-site at St. Mike’s, marks one of the most consequential federal investments in health AI in Canada’s history. Vital will connect care nationwide, improve patient outcomes, and help our health system learn at a scale never before possible.
We are deeply grateful for the transformational support of the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation, whose early investment helped lay the groundwork for AI and data analytics research at St. Mike’s. Thank you, as well, to Birch Hill Equity Partners, Scotiabank, and Bernie & Mildred Syron, whose support of GEMINI helped pave the path to Vital. We also extend our deepest gratitude to the Government of Canada for their belief in the promise of Vital.
This is a proud moment for all of us. Vital started at St. Mike’s. Today’s funding brings it to all Canadians.
To learn more about our AI fundraising priorities, contact Justyna Jonca.
Donate to St. Michael's Hospital Foundation.
