Canada Welcomes IHE North America Connectathon Week

Coming to Canada for the first time, this landmark event underscores the country’s leadership in health IT innovation and interoperability, bringing cutting-edge advancements, collaboration, and global expertise to Canadian soil.

Taking place in Toronto from February 3-7, the event brings together local and international experts and innovators to test, validate and refine their health systems, ensuring we collectively meet the highest interoperability standards.

Hosted by Canada Health Infoway and organized in partnership with IHE Canada and IHE USA, the Connectathon Week aims to cultivate cross-border partnerships that bring global best practices and insights to Canada, driving the evolution of Connected Care while strengthening the country’s leadership in digital health transformation.

A Unique Platform for Innovation and Collaboration

The Connectathon Week offers a unique platform for innovation and collaboration within the health IT and digital health sectors. The week-long event features a variety of components, including the IHE Connectathon Testing Event, the Pan-Canadian Projectathon, the IHE Plugathon, and IHE Experience Days. Participants will have the chance to showcase their work, learn from and network with experts, and contribute to the development of innovative health IT solutions.

2025 IHE North America Connectathon Event Components:

• IHE Experience Days (February 3-4): Participants will learn about global interoperability initiatives, as well as pan-Canadian and US digital health innovations through conference-style presentations. Experience Days offer a rich, two-day program of educational and networking opportunities, allowing attendees to gain insights from leading experts and connect with peers from around the world.
• IHE Connectathon Testing Event (February 3-7): Features a non-competitive testing environment where participants can collaborate with colleagues from around the globe and experience an unparalleled opportunity to reduce development costs, debug systems in minutes, and leverage the expertise of top industry professionals to advance their digital health solutions.
• Pan-Canadian Projectathon (February 3-7): Led by Canada Health Infoway, this is a key event for pan-Canadian interoperability and standards advancement. Participants from across Canada will engage in rigorous testing and collaborative problem-solving to ensure their digital health solutions can seamlessly integrate with systems nationwide, fostering collaboration and innovation to accelerate the seamless integration of digital health solutions and enhance the efficiency of the Canadian healthcare system.
• IHE Plugathon (February 4-7): A valuable platform for participants to test their novel innovations on an international stage at an early stage of development. Structured around dedicated tracks that cater to specific areas of interest, this event fosters a dynamic exchange of ideas and knowledge, bridging the gap between user needs, vendor solutions, existing standards, and harvesting industry innovations.

The 2025 IHE NA Connectathon Week is poised to make a significant contribution to the evolution of healthcare delivery by advancing interoperability and fostering innovation. By bringing together key stakeholders from around the world, the event supports the development of more efficient, effective, and patient-centered digital health solutions and health systems, with the potential to enhance care coordination and improve patient outcomes.

Insights and outcomes from the different components of the 2025 IHE NA Connectathon Week will help accelerate the future trajectory of health IT and digital health in Canada, and internationally. The event underscores the critical role of both international partnerships and cross-jurisdictional collaboration, reinforcing the Shared pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap as a key driver in creating a more connected, cohesive, and interoperable healthcare system in Canada and beyond.

To learn more and see the latest on the 2025 IHE NA Connectathon Week, visit us here.

About Canada Health Infoway

At Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) we believe a more connected and collaborative system is a healthier system, and one that leads to better health outcomes for all Canadians. By leveraging digital technologies and innovations, we’re working with governments, health care organizations, clinicians, and patients to advance connected care across the country. This improves care coordination, empowers patients to have a more active role in managing their health, and equips care providers with information and insights to support better care both at the point of care and throughout their patients' health journey. Most importantly, it modernizes our health care system towards a future with patient-centered care at its heart.

We’re an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government and accountable to our Board of Directors and Members of the Corporation (Canada’s 14 federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers of health). Infoway is led by a team of seasoned professionals who are specialists in their respective fields, including health care, administration, information technology and privacy.  Visit us online at www.infoway-inforoute.ca.

About IHE Canada

IHE Canada is the national Deployment Committee for IHE activities in Canada, and the IHE Canada Community. IHE Canada is sponsored by Canada Health Infoway, and exists as a forum for health care professionals, the health information industry, and government administrators to collaborate to improve the way health care technologies and systems share information. Our Forum strives to expand the knowledge of our community to play a key role in guiding the development of IHE and determining priorities for integration through developing and implementing standards-based solutions for information sharing. IHE Canada will play a critical role in advancing connected care across the country.

About IHE USA

IHE USA is a not-for-profit organization established in 2010 that operates as a deployment committee of IHE International®. The mission of IHE USA is to drive adoption of standards-based interoperability to improve patient care through innovation, standards profiling, testing, education and collaboration. IHE USA improves the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery by supporting the deployment of standards-based electronic health record systems, facilitating the exchange of health information among care providers, both within the enterprise and across care settings, and enabling local, regional and national health information networks in the United States, all in a manner consistent with participation in the activities of IHE International, Inc

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