Healthcare systems across Canada are experiencing parallel pressures: aging infrastructure, escalating construction and equipment costs, workforce shortages, and care models evolving faster than the facilities designed to support them. Bottlenecks in the healthcare system may manifest differently, but these challenges require shared innovative solutions across provinces and territories. It’s time to seize the opportunity with an “elbows-up” uniquely Canadian approach that brings together health leaders and experts in project design and health systems operations who are making a difference. Join Us!

This CCHF conference theme in Vancouver will focus on unlocking system capacity from various perspectives, including population health, standards and functional planning, procurement, project delivery cost controls, design that reflects evolving care models, systems-level changes that embed digital health, and more.

Conference Topics

• Understanding population health data to better cater to the health needs of the communities being served, and understanding how to leverage care facilities as an ecosystem of infrastructure rather than a singular build
• Unlocking system capacity with a ‘health hub” and spoke framework  that improves patient flow, connects facilities for various levels of care and their operations within an ecosystem of care
• Optimizing infrastructure through phasing and considering cost-effective approaches of renovation
• Embedded AI and digital health as a driver of improving system capacity – not just a digital add-on
• Case studies, including the recently completed Burnaby Redevelopment Project going LIVE this month, and planning and design considerations for integrating the newly applied alliance model and integrating indigenous health at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia
• Tour of Burnaby Phase 1Post Conference Sessions, May 6th

Post Conference Events 

AM Session: Long-Term Care at a Crossroads: Delivering Affordable Capacity in a Constrained Market

Leaders in Construction, Design and LTC owners/operators will share how they are designing for lower costs per bed and their expertise in delivering projects across the Province of BC, from Providence Health and Island Health. The BC Seniors Advocate, Dan Levitt, will provide an update on the Province’s plan and recommendations from his Office’s work to develop a multi-pronged strategy for senior housing.

PM Session: Leadership Training: Breaking out of Silos: Leadership Thinking for Complex Healthcare Systems

• Shift from siloed thinking to system thinking
• Explore how mindset influences decision-making in complex environments
• Generate new approaches to persistent challenges
• Build leadership capacity for collaboration across organizations
• Work more creatively within constraints rather than becoming limited by them

Background:

A single bottleneck does not constrain healthcare systems, but rather a series of interconnected constraints spanning facilities, workforce, operations, and care models. While funding and staffing challenges are significant, the design of our physical and operational healthcare ecosystem (comprising facilities and digital infrastructure) plays a decisive role in either alleviating or exacerbating congestion.

When planning, design and delivery are aligned with the core business of health systems – providing timely, appropriate care in the right setting – latent capacity can be unlocked. Intentional design reduces friction for patients and staff, improves flow and strengthens confidence in the system. Poorly aligned environments, by contrast, drain teams, fragment care, and create wide service gaps.

This two-day conference brings together healthcare owners, operators, architects, engineers, constructors and policy academics and leaders to examine the real pinch points constraining capital health capacity and to share practical strategies for building smarter, more resilient healthcare systems across Canada.

Conference Objectives:

• Explore capacity bottlenecks across healthcare systems and how they are being improved upon through health data analysis and using this to inform operational and process improvements, and the required health facilities to develop an ecosystem of care model
• How design and engineering impacts improve the flow of patients, leveraging resources for better care outcomes
• Cross-provincial lessons in bringing projects to market faster through planning, procurement, and delivery that save time and money
• Understanding the right mix of standards dependent on the needs of the specific use of infrastructure through the planning process, so the project is not overbuilt
• Aligning facilities design with evolving models of care and workforce realities using digital health as an embedded strategy, not a digital ‘add-on.’
• Strengthening  collaboration between owners, designers, engineers and constructors, owners and communities using reconfigured health services closer to the community

Draft Conference Agenda 

Day 1 – May 4, 2026

8:00 – 8:50 AM | Networking Breakfast

Network with your peers, enjoy a hot breakfast

9:00 – 9:15 AM | Opening Remarks

9:15 – 10:00 AM | How Health Data Analysis can Inform Infrastructure Capacity Needs, Service Demand Forecasting, and Operational Effectiveness

Dr. Sutherland is a global leader in health policy and services research. He is also the program head of health outcomes at the Centre for Advanced Health Outcomes at Providence Healthcare.

Dr. Jason Sutherland, Centre for Health Services and Policy (CHSPR), University of British Columbia, School of Population Health

10:00 – 10:30 AM | BREAK

10:30 – 11:15 AM | Rising to the Challenge: Identifying Opportunities in New Care Models to Meet Future Needs

How scenario planning informed a project and the health community results from the Case Study Example of Orléans Health Hub, Ottawa

Dr. Gavin Wardle, Preyra Solutions Group Consultants

Mélanie Potvin, Executive Lead, Planning and Business Development, Hawkesbury and District General Hospital, Ontario

11:15 – 12:15 PM | Facilitated Group Discussions from Acute Lens to System Design and Capital Alignment – Easing the pressure, improving care

• Redesigning the patient journey based on congestion points
• Identifying the misalignments
• Moving from the concept of ED being full to why does the ED exist as the default intake mechanism?

12:15 – 1:15 PM | LUNCH

1:15 – 2:30 | Integrating New Technologies into Planning and Design to Improve Space Utilization at Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto

Akira Jones, Director, Digital Services, H.H. Angus

Carol Robinson, Patient Care Manager, Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto (joining virtually)

2:30 – 3:15 PM | Connecting Digital Health to Capital Delivery: From Add-On to Foundational 

Digital health is no longer an add-on to healthcare facilities – it’s a foundational component that shapes how care is delivered,  experienced, and scaled. Yet across many projects, digital systems are still introduced too late in the capital planning and design process, resulting in misalignment, inefficiencies and missed opportunities.

We convened a panel of digital health experts directly involved in capital project delivery to explore how embedding digital from the start can unlock capacity, improve patient flow, and future-proof healthcare environments. Panellists will share real-world case studies and system-level insights, including:

– Sharing global leading-edge projects where Digital health is embedded from the “front door” of the hospital and demonstrating how integrated digital strategies are reshaping patient access, virtual care pathways and operational models
– Fraser Health Authority’s progress and successful embedding of digital services in the planning and design phases across a large complex regional system
– Lessons from The Ottawa Hospital: Navigating Ontario’s project delivery frameworks while advancing digital health program integration

Hamidreza Eslami, Director, Data Science, Fraser Health Authority
Mathieu Lebreton, Interim Director – Biomedical Engineering & New Campus Development Digital Experience, The Ottawa Hospital
Jennifer MacGregor, President, Elewana Advisory

3:15 – 3:45 PM | BREAK

3:45 – 4:15 PM |

4:15-4:45 PM | Burnaby Hospital Redevelopment Project: Planning for the Needs of the Community to Ease Congestion and Flow

Going LIVE at the newly opened Burnaby hospital will be shared by the clinical and project leaders.

Anita Wempe, Chief Clinical Planner, Burnaby Hospital Redevelopment Project, Fraser Health Authority
Jessica Foster, Senior Leader, Operational Readiness and Strategic Change Management, Fraser Health Authority

4:45 – 5:00 PM | Wrap up and Close of Day 1 

5:00 – 6:30 PM | Networking Reception at JW Parq Marriott

Day 2 – May 5, 2026

8:00 – 8:50 AM | Networking Breakfast

Network with your peers, enjoy a hot breakfast

8:50 – 9:15 AM | Welcome and Introductions

9:15 – 10:15 AM | Panel: Where Do We Go From Here? Addressing Project Cost Control In Healthcare Projects

Healthcare capital projects across Canada are facing unprecedented cost escalation, outpacing other sectors and placing significant strain on public funding, timelines, and system capacity. Persistent bottlenecks –  from procurement inefficiencies and inflationary pressures to scope creep and misaligned planning assumptions – are delaying delivery and eroding value.

This panel brings together leaders from across the project lifecycle to examine the structural drivers behind rising costs and discuss practical system-level strategies to restore cost discipline. The discussion will challenge traditional delivery models and highlight opportunities to align planning, design, procurement and operations better – ultimately enabling more predictable, affordable and timely infrastructure healthcare delivery.

Tariq Amlani, Senior Health Sector Leader, Canada, Stantec
Kieran McDonald, Partner, Agnew Peckham (Moderator)
Susan Neil, President, Hanscomb Inc.
Stephen Rowe, National Health Sector Lead, HDR
EllisDon (TBC)
Jeff Good, Vice-President, Alliance and Stakeholder Engagement, Infrastructure BC
Robin Latondresse, Senior Executive Director, Major Capital Projects, Provincial Health Services Authority

10:15 – 10:45 AM | BREAK

10:45 – 11:30 AM | Speed to Market for Health Infrastructure

Canadian health‑care organizations are increasingly challenged by affordability pressures, capital escalation, and the limits of aging and constrained hospital sites. This session features Parkin’s leadership outlining their master planning work for the future growth of Lions Gate Hospital, including the strategic evaluation of continuing redevelopment on the current constrained site versus pursuing the acquisition of a new site. The presentation will examine how contemporary business cases and traditional master plan strategies—such as building new facilities while renovating old ones—are now routinely exceeding budgets in today’s cost environment. Parkin will share how these realities reshape long‑term planning assumptions and influence decision‑making toward models that better support sustainable, scalable future care capacity.

Parkin Architects

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM | LUNCH

12:30 – 1:00  PM | Case Study: Planning for University Hospital of Northern British Columbia

Planning for the northern communities of BC has unique considerations, given that communities have unique needs and meeting location challenges. Learn from the planning and design leaders the approaches that will integrate communities’ care needs for generations.

Sherri Tillotson, Senior Clinical Planning Officer, Northern Health
Ronald B. McIntyre, Partner, Architect, DIALOG

1:30- 2:15 PM | Improving Workforce Design in Healthcare and Reducing Costs for Health Facilities Office Space

Ian McDermott, Vice President, Facilities and Capital Development, Sinai Health
Susan Chang, Executive Vice President, Workplace Design Advisory, JLL Design Americas

2:15 – 2:45 PM | BREAK

2:45 – 3:30 PM |Standards: enabling or constraining our system capacity? 

Standards play a key role in the safety, design and functionality of health environments. They provide a common reference point across Canada, with common space requirements for adjacencies, functional program elements, and patient, staff, and visitor safety considerations.  The panel will discuss their expert perspectives on the application of health design standards and future considerations for standards at the national and regional levels.

• Consistency in application of national standards and regional standards balance (over-standardized nationally but under-standardized provincially)
• Keeping up with more flexible care models,  and the impacts that can be unintentionally caused related to locking in inefficiencies
• How should standards be applied (community, virtual ambulatory) to support distributed care versus centralized infrastructure
• Standards versus innovation tension
• Are we over-applying standards to lower acuity environments, and what is the cost?

Gordon Burrill, Teegor Consulting Inc. (Moderator)
Westley Davidson, Chief Project Officer, Quw’utsun Valley Hospital/Quw’utsun Hulitun-ew’t-hw (Cowichan Hospital), Island Health
Craig Doerksen, Executive Director of Capital, Clinical Engineering & Facilities Management, Shared Health Manitoba
Ronald B. McIntyre, Partner, Architect, DIALOG

3:30 PM  – 4:15 PM TBC

 Wrap Up / Conference Close

*Agenda subject to change. Stay tuned for more details!

The conference program will include interactive sessions, panels, a reception, and a guided tour TBC.

More information will be available soon!

Post-Conference May 6, 2026 (Tickets Sold Separately)

Round off your experience with our Post-Conference Events

Morning Session: Long-Term Care at a Crossroads: Delivering Affordable Capacity in a Constrained Market

Leaders in Construction, Design and Delivery panellists will share how they are designing for lower costs per bed and their expertise in delivering projects across the Province of BC, from Providence Health and Island Health. The BC Seniors Advocate, Dan Levitt, will provide an update on the Province’s plan and recommendations from his Office’s work to develop a multi-pronged strategy for senior housing.

Afternoon Session: Breaking out of Silos: Leadership Thinking for Complex Healthcare Systems

• Shift from siloed thinking to system thinking
• Explore how mindset influences decision-making in complex environments
• Generate new approaches to persistent challenges
• Build leadership capacity for collaboration across organizations
• Work more creatively within constraints rather than becoming limited by them

Vancouver Post-Conference Events: LTC Costs and a Path Forward / Leadership in Complex Health Project Environments

Conference Location:

Parq Marriott
39 Smith Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 0R3

Hotel Accommodations

*Important Hotel Note: Due to high demand coinciding with the FIFA World Cup, we strongly advise booking your accommodations as soon as possible to secure availability and rates.

A select number of rooms have been set aside for our out-of-town conference attendees at the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver. To take advantage of our special room rates, reservations must be made by April 2nd, 2026, by 12 PM noon PST. 

Online Booking: Use the dedicated reservation website: Book Now. Guests can make, modify, and cancel their hotel reservations through this link.

Phone Booking: Call 1-888-236-2427 or 1-801-468-4000 (for Marriott Bonvoy members) to reserve by phone.

Audience

• Healthcare leaders in Facilities & Redevelopment, Corporate Services, CEO, CFO’s
• Clinical Leads (CMIOs, Nursing, Medical leads)
• Capital Planning leaders and Project Directors
• ICAT / IMIT Leaders
• Design / Build Executives
• Constructors / Project Managers
• Consulting / Design Engineers
• Architects
• Planning Consultants
• Infection Control Professionals
• Quality and Patient Safety
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Capital Planners, Infrastructure Planners
• Hospital Service Providers
• Energy Services Companies
• Healthcare Vendors

Note: Speakers and topics may change based on their availability. CCHF makes every effort to publish only confirmed speakers.

Cancellation Policy

Fees are non-refundable. A colleague from the same organization may replace registrants if written notification is provided prior to the event. Note that CCHF does not guarantee all speakers. There may be substitutions due to availability or the need to make program changes. In the highly unlikely event of a program cancellation, CCHF will credit your company for the same value of the next event in your area.