Question Period Note: Coordinated Accessible National (CAN) Health Network

How is the Government of Canada supporting health tech companies?

• The Government of Canada supports Canada’s innovative and cutting-edge healthcare companies to grow, scale-up and access new markets to sell their made-in-Canada solutions at home and around the world.

• Budget 2022 invested $30 million to build upon the success of the Coordinated Accessible National (CAN) Health Network and expand it nationally.

• By connecting health organizations with Canadian companies from coast-to-coast-to-coast, the government’s investment in expanding the CAN Health Network will support innovation in the health tech sector, grow businesses, create well-paying jobs and increase prosperity for Canadians.

• The Government of Canada has identified health-care innovation as a key input which can support the advancement of economic outcomes. Despite Canada’s strong commitment to health innovation, Canadian companies developing health-related technologies have indicated that the commercialization process within Canada is too burdensome and the procurement process too slow for innovations. As a result many companies leave the domestic market to commercialize and grow their technologies elsewhere.

• The CAN Health Network is an expanding Integrated Marketplace that currently unites 30 hospitals, health authorities, and private clinics across the country to help identify their biggest challenges and match them with advanced Canadian-made technology solutions.

• Budget 2022 announced $30 million over four years (fiscal years 2022-23 to 2025-26) to expand the CAN Health Network across Canada. Currently operating in nine provinces, their model shows potential to help deliver better care to Canadians, help health technology businesses grow and create middle-class jobs across the country.

• This investment will support the growth of CAN Health’s member base from 29 to 35 participating health organizations (referred to as Edges) and increase their demonstration projects to 95 projects. These projects will create 600 jobs and facilitate the procurement of 60 collaborative health technologies.

• The CAN Health Network has successfully launched 13 projects to date. One of those projects, a job-matching platform designed to address the challenges faced by health care organizations in recruiting and retaining skilled clinical professionals, led to procurement.

• The CAN Health Network was established in 2019 as a pilot initiative led by Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to create a procurement network that connected multiple health organizations with Canadian companies to validate, test and demonstrate their technology solutions.

o The government, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, has provided the Trillium Health Partners with $6.75 million in non-repayable funding.

o The government, through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, made a $2.2-million investment in the Horizon Health Network to support the expansion of the CAN Health Network to Atlantic Canada.

o The government, through Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), made a $3.5 million investment to establish the CAN Health West Network. The Saskatchewan Health Authority is the lead proponent, and the initiative includes four other healthcare providers: Alberta Health Services, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, O’Brien Institute for Public Health, and Vancouver Coastal Health.

• The CAN Health Network was created to reduce barriers to procurement that have historically existed for tech companies in the healthcare sector. It connects companies with healthcare organizations looking for new and innovative products to meet the needs of Canadians.

• By breaking down traditional barriers in the health care sector, Canadian companies’ solutions can quickly be validated, procured, and scaled across the country. This generates economic growth and makes Canada a leader in the global health care marketplace.