Innovation or Stagnation: Why Our Hospitals Must Embrace Change Before It’s Too Late

By Dr. Tomi Mitchell

Let’s talk about a word often tossed around in boardrooms and government meetings but rarely receives the real-world attention it deserves in healthcare: Innovation.

We love the idea of it. We hold conferences about it. We celebrate it on paper and in press releases. We marvel at the latest AI, biotechnology, and personalized medicine breakthroughs. Yet we hesitate when it comes to integrating innovation into our hospitals, where it could save time, money, and lives. We stall. We study it to death.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Canada is failing at transforming innovation into meaningful application, especially in our healthcare system. And nowhere is this more painfully obvious than in our hospitals.

We have some of the brightest minds in the world—world-class physicians, researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. We have globally ranked universities and renowned research institutions. But what happens to the ideas they generate? Too often, they stall in a sea of red tape, or worse, they cross the border. Promising technologies and innovations are frequently commercialized and implemented in the U.S., while Canada stays stuck in feasibility studies and pilot purgatory.

This isn’t just a missed opportunity—it’s a public health and economic emergency.

This article draws heavily on insights from Dan Breznitz, co-director of the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. At the 2025 CMA Virtual Health Summit, he issued a stark warning: Canada’s innovation inertia is costing us dearly in healthcare and broader national productivity.

The Cost of Ignoring Innovation in Our Hospitals

Canada prides itself on universal healthcare, and rightly so. But pride without progress is dangerous. We're moving at a glacial pace when it comes to embracing technology that could streamline hospital operations, improve patient outcomes, and reduce the crushing burden on healthcare workers.

If you work in a hospital, this is not news. You live this every day.

Let’s paint a familiar picture:

• Outdated systems: Fax machines still buzz with referrals, and paper charts pile up. We’re digitizing at the speed of molasses.

• Endless paperwork: Hours of repetitive data entry remove clinicians from their core mission—caring for patients.

• Inefficient workflows: Disconnected systems lead to bottlenecks and delays. Waitlists grow. Tempers fray.

• Staff burnout: Nurses and doctors spend more time troubleshooting printers and chasing down signatures than practicing medicine.

  
  

Contrast this with hospitals in countries like Denmark, Israel, or even the U.S., where AI-driven diagnostic support, automated scheduling, and remote monitoring tools are already integrated into clinical practice. These innovations reduce administrative burden, cut wait times, and improve patient care.

Meanwhile, we form a committee in Canada to explore “possibilities.” The result? Years pass. Nothing changes.

The Big Picture: Canada’s Productivity Problem

Our hospitals don’t exist in a vacuum. Their inertia mirrors a broader national problem: stagnant productivity.

Despite being one of the most educated countries in the world, Canada’s ability to convert that intellectual capital into tangible economic growth has been dismal. In fact, among G7 nations, we consistently underperform in productivity and innovation outputs.

Dan Breznitz’s research breaks it down clearly:

• Since 2001, business investment in knowledge-based sectors (BERD—Business Expenditure on Research and Development) has steadily declined.

• The private sector’s adoption of new technologies is sluggish compared to international peers.

• Total Factor Productivity (TFP)—a measure of how efficiently we turn input into output—has been negative since 2000.

• And perhaps most damning of all: real median wages in Canada haven’t meaningfully increased since 1976. That’s nearly 50 years of wage stagnation.

  
  

These aren’t just abstract statistics. They explain why Canada consistently loses its top innovators, why venture capital dollars go elsewhere, and why we keep losing the race to modernize our healthcare system.

What This Looks Like in Hospitals

Now let’s zoom back into our hospitals. This national stagnation plays out in deeply personal, day-to-day frustrations:

1. Brain Drain of Talent and Ideas

We train extraordinary physicians and researchers. But what happens when they try to bring innovation to the bedside? Often, they run into barriers so high and bureaucratic processes so convoluted that they simply leave. In the U.S., they can build and scale healthcare startups. In Canada, they drown in red tape.

2. Overloaded Hospitals and Outdated Workflows

Our healthcare system is bursting at the seams. Yet we’re not using the tools that could help. AI-assisted imaging, predictive algorithms for ER flow, and digital triage systems already exist. They’re saving lives elsewhere. In Canada, these tools often remain locked in pilot stages, years away from full adoption.

3. Clinician Fatigue and Burnout

We have some of the world's most compassionate, skilled, and committed medical professionals. But they are worn down. Every unnecessary click, every broken printer, every handwritten form chips away at their energy and purpose. This isn’t just inefficient—it’s soul-destroying.

It Wasn’t Always Like This

Here’s the bitter irony: Canada was once on the right path.

Until the late 1990s, we were moving in the right direction. We were improving in innovation metrics, growing our tech sector, and competing globally. Then, after NAFTA and the pressures of globalization, things began to shift.

As Breznitz notes, around 1996 to 2001, Canada’s innovation trajectory began to decline. Since then, we’ve lost ground year after year. The systemic barriers to implementing innovation, especially in healthcare, have only grown.

We have become a country that educates brilliant minds but does not give them a platform to apply their ideas. We build world-class research hubs but lack the infrastructure to scale their outputs. In short, we train for excellence but settle for mediocrity.

Hospitals Must Be the First to Change

If Canada is to regain its innovative edge, we must start with hospitals. Healthcare is one of the largest and most complex sectors of our economy. If we can modernize here, the ripple effects will be transformative.

So what needs to happen?

1. Stop Worshipping the Status Quo

Change is hard, especially in healthcare. But maintaining outdated systems in the name of tradition is not just inconvenient—it’s harmful. Leadership must move beyond lip service and prioritize actual transformation.

2. Create Incentives for Innovation Within Hospitals

Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Hospital administrators must create spaces where front-line workers can suggest, test, and implement new ideas. Offer internal grants, support sabbaticals for innovation, and celebrate success stories.

3. Cut the Bureaucratic Red Tape

A new technology that could save lives should not take five to ten years to approve. We need fast-track pathways for promising innovations, especially those with proven efficacy in other jurisdictions.

4. Partner with Canadian Startups Before They Leave

Our homegrown tech talent is extraordinary. Let’s stop pushing them away. Hospitals should seek partnerships with local health tech companies and co-develop tools that serve real clinical needs.

5. Recognize That Healthcare Innovation Is Economic Innovation

Healthcare accounts for nearly 12% of Canada’s GDP. Making it more efficient doesn’t just improve patient outcomes—it boosts national productivity, reduces long-term costs, and strengthens our economy. Innovation here isn’t a luxury—it’s a national investment.

The Future: Innovation as a Necessity, Not a Luxury

The uncomfortable truth is that other countries are moving forward fast. If we don’t act now, we risk not just falling behind but becoming irrelevant.

If we want to keep our brightest minds, fix our overwhelmed healthcare system, and future-proof our economy, innovation must move from buzzword to baseline. It must be embedded in how we design, fund, and deliver hospital care.

The time for hesitation is over. We cannot committee our way out of this crisis. We need decisive, courageous leadership—at the hospital, provincial, and national levels.

Do we have the courage to challenge the status quo? Or will we continue to coast until the system collapses under its weight?

The choice is ours. But the clock is ticking.