Petal aims to fix a health care system in crisis

Canada’s health care system is at a breaking point. Everyone has heard stories of – or experienced firsthand – hours-long waits in crowded hospital emergency departments or frustrating searches for a family doctor accepting new patients.

One Canadian health care technology company is aiming to fix this critical problem by unlocking capacity and making health care more efficient.

“Canada’s health care system is facing an unprecedented access crisis. This is happening everywhere, in every province,” says Patrice Gilbert, founder and chief executive officer of Petal, which is based in Quebec City and has offices across the country.

“Millions of Canadians can’t see a family doctor when they need to, so that pushes them into already overcrowded emergency departments,” he explains. “That creates longer waits, more strain on providers and ultimately, poor patient outcomes.”

This is where Petal excels. Its care orchestration platform acts like a real-time traffic controller for health care, aligning patients with the right provider, in the right setting, at the right time. Using artificial intelligence, Petal matches patients with health care providers, whether it’s a nurse, family doctor, pharmacist or specialist. It is already deployed in over 3,000 health care sites, helping more than 10 million patients.

Here’s how it works: Health care providers enter appointments and availability into Petal’s platform, which is securely and seamlessly integrated with all the hospitals and medical clinics in an area or province. The platform operates in real time, aggregating demand from hospitals, clinics, and online and phone booking systems.

When a patient enters a hospital emergency room, the nurse assesses them. If the patient has chest pains or a potentially broken arm, for example, they’re treated in the emergency department. But if they show up with a mild rash or a sore throat – something that is not an emergency – the nurse can search for a provider with an open appointment the next morning.

“We break down the silos between clinics, hospitals and health care networks so resources can flow where they’re needed most,” says Mr. Gilbert. “This is the idea behind Petal – to align supply and demand.”

But Petal’s impact goes well beyond easing pressures in the ER. The platform also helps doctors maximize their productivity. For example, if a patient doesn’t show up for an appointment, the doctor can add that time into the system and take a virtual appointment – boosting productivity while helping patients in need.

Quebec is one province already seeing the significant benefits of Petal. Before Petal was deployed, the province’s health care system diverted about 600 patients a day from emergency departments to other services. After Petal’s integration in 2020, that number jumped 10-fold to more than 6,000 patients per day. Access to primary care has also improved, rising to 91 per cent at the end of May 2025, up from 77.5 per cent in January 2018.

One important program Quebec also runs is for unattached patients who do not have a family doctor. By calling an 811 number, patients can speak to a nurse who answers their health questions or sets them up with a doctor’s appointment. Prior to Petal’s deployment, about 125,000 unattached patients were able to get an appointment, and that number doubled to nearly 250,000 patients gaining access.

Petal’s platform also incorporates efficient billing to reduce the administrative burden, ensuring health care providers are accurately compensated while freeing up more time for patient care.

In addition, Petal’s system gives health care providers and authorities key analytics that track performance metrics, providing real-time predictions and recommendations that ensure resources are allocated correctly so patients get the treatment they need. “They have access to data that did not exist before,” Mr. Gilbert says.

The company continues to expand with support from CAN Health Network, which brings together 50 health care organizations from across the country to help Canadian health care technology companies scale and expand globally.

“We are a network that actively creates adoption of Canadian technology that not only helps create prosperity and jobs, but also changes the health care system,” says Dr. Dante Morra, founder and chair of the CAN Health Network.

CAN Health has worked with Petal on two projects – one with the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), and one with pharmacies like Shoppers Drug Mart – to increase health care access for patients.

“They have great technology, they have been implemented at scale and they show positive outcomes,” Dr. Morra says, adding that Petal is not only enabling the health care system, but they’re also improving it.

“If Petal was deployed across every province, it would improve the experience, the cost and the access to health care for Canadians.”

Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with Petal Health. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.