Provincial Clinical Lead, Digital Health

Position summary

Ontario Health is seeking expressions of interest from practicing Physicians in Ontario with extensive experience and leadership in the digital health space for the position of Provincial Clinical Lead, Digital Health (including Patients before Paperwork).

In this role, the Provincial Clinical Lead, Digital Health will provide strategic clinical leadership and guidance to help establish and implement a clinically-guided digital program that is empowered to direct the delivery of several connected digital solutions that will support integration, connection and reduced administration burden. This includes the clinical leadership of the Patients Before Paperwork program, as well as a broad range of other digital health initiatives (eg. Online Appointment Booking, EMR Integration, AI adoption, etc). From guiding the development of digital referral tools to reducing administrative burden, this role is instrumental in driving culture change and fostering clinical and digital engagement at a provincial scale.

Patients Before Paperwork (Pb4P) is a five-year joint initiative of the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ontario Health (OH) aimed at modernizing Ontario’s health care system through the strategic implementation of digital health tools. Pb4P addresses long-standing inefficiencies in care delivery by replacing paper- and fax-based workflows with secure, integrated digital solutions. The initiative is grounded in the quintuple aim: improving patient experience, enhancing population health, advancing health equity, improving provider experience, and delivering better value.

Questions about the role may be submitted by email no later than June 16, 2025.

A consolidated list of all questions and answers will be available to any party, by request, by June 20, 2025.

Interested parties should forward their expression of interest and curriculum vitae, electronically, with the subject line as “Application for Digital Health Lead - [Your Name]” no later than 5:00 P.M. on June 26, 2025.

To send a question, receive a copy of the consolidated list of questions and answers, or to submit your expression of interest, please contact Sourcing@ontariohealth.ca.

Accountabilities

The key responsibilities of this role are:

• Serve as the Provincial Clinical Lead and Champion for a broad provincial digital health strategy in Ontario.
• Provide leadership and guidance to initiatives focused on digital health tools (ie. Pb4P, Online Appointment Booking, EMR, etc.) to ensure implementation of streamlined workflows that meet clinical and patient needs.
• Co-Chair or Chair key committees such as the Patients before Paperwork Steering Committees and Clinical Advisory Committee as needed to help ensure that the digital solutions enable good clinical workflow.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across Ontario Health portfolios and MOH to integrate digital health tools and practices into the broader provincial digital health landscape.
• Supervise, support, and coach a number of Digital Clinical Leads, providing oversight and guidance for their respective areas of focus, such as eReferrals, eLabs, ePrescriptions, AI Scribe, HRM, etc.
• Provide a strong, reflective clinical perspective to ensure that digital health initiatives remain grounded in the realities of front-line practice and provider experience.
• Act as a skilled negotiator to gain alignment and decisions among diverse program stakeholders.
• Support the development of technical guidance, evaluation metrics, and implementation tools to enhance quality, equity, and performance.
• Promote a culture of continuous quality improvement, person-centered care, and clinical innovation.
• Provide strategic clinical guidance to ensure clinical priorities are aligned with product rollouts. This will include working with a variety of OH teams including the digital, clinical support, change management, communications, and user experience teams, using a respectful and collaborative approach to inform the design of workflows and support effective implementation.
• Advise on the accessibility and appropriateness of digital tools for different communities, and help identify where efforts should be targeted to ensure equitable reach and adoption, including establishing clinical targets and priorities.

Qualifications

• A practicing Primary Care or Specialist Physician in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) with a minimum 5 years of clinical experience.
• Demonstrated leadership in digital health strategy and/or implementation. Preferred previous experience as a CMIO overseeing a team, or other relevant digital leadership roles.
• Proven experience in clinical governance, system design, or leading health system transformation at the regional or provincial level.
• Strong professional aptitude for systems thinking, ability to analyze information and to make sound decisions, comfortable reviewing and interpreting data. A true health systems thinker.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills with a demonstrated ability to build consensus and manage complex multi-stakeholder relationships. Strong professional presence and ability to present to large and small audiences in a concise, articulate and dynamic fashion.
• A clear commitment to evidence-based medicine, health equity, and person-centred care. Enthusiasm for and commitment to quality improvement in health care at the system level.
• Strong understanding of knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) strategies for implementation with specialists and primary care providers.
• Strong understanding of Ontario's health care environment, particularly with a systems focus on the issues facing the healthcare system in Ontario, and key health system leaders such as the Ontario Medical Association, Ministry of Health, etc.
• Demonstrated experience with, and understanding of, population health and how the social determinants of health can affect access to digital health tools/ virtual care and health care services for some participants, gained through clinical practice or research program.
• Demonstrated creativity through implementation of innovative systems and ideas and/or publication or research.
• Excellent in-depth knowledge and understanding of health information systems and electronic medical records with experience in the use of health informatics and health system performance measurement and management to promote change
• Experience working with or within Ontario Health Teams, regional clinical programs, or quality improvement collaboratives.

How to apply

Interested parties should forward their expression of interest and curriculum vitae, electronically, with the subject line as “Application for Digital Health Lead - [Your Name]” no later than 5:00 P.M. on June 26, 2025 to Sourcing@ontariohealth.ca.

We will evaluate all applications against the skills and experience requirements for the position. Those candidates selected for interview will be contacted directly by a representative from the Business Unit. Ontario Health may consider applications from incumbents currently in the position. If you have not been contacted within 3 weeks after the close of the posting, you can assume you are not under consideration for this position.

More About Ontario Health

Ontario Health is an agency created by the Government of Ontario with a mandate to connect and coordinate Ontario’s health care system in ways that have not been done before, to help ensure that Ontarians receive the best possible care.

Ontario Health oversees health care delivery across the province, which includes ensuring front-line providers and other health professionals have the tools and information they need to deliver the best possible care within their communities. This also means simplifying the current system and connecting and coordinating its many complex parts in new and innovative ways. This involves keeping a close eye on how the health system is performing and providing evidence-based standards and improvements to address any gaps.

Ontario Health helps to support significant and important transformation in Ontario’s health system, working to ease the transition between points of care for Ontarians and helping to ensure they have access to the care they need. Ontario Health is adapting world-renowned practices from areas such as cancer care and renal care to other parts of the system, including mental health and addictions.

Through integration, coordination, connection, and clinical excellence, Ontario Health is working to reduce strain on the system which will enable investment of more resources on the care Ontarians need, and, most importantly, improve health outcomes and overall wellness for all.

As an operational service agency of the Government of Ontario, Ontario Health is accountable for conducting a fair and transparent process, providing equal treatment to all qualified parties, in selecting a candidate for the above mentioned role.