Bill S-5: Connected Care for Canadians Act

This bill directly targets companies that build and sell health IT products — think electronic medical record (EMR) systems, patient portal software, e-prescribing platforms, or any digital tool used by clinics, hospitals, or pharmacies to store or exchange patient data. If your company licenses, sells, or provides these kinds of software solutions as a service anywhere in Canada, you'll need to ensure your products can openly exchange health data with other systems and that you're not using technical or contractual tactics to lock clients into your platform. This applies regardless of company size — from a solo developer selling a niche clinical tool to a large enterprise EMR provider — though larger vendors with complex proprietary systems may face more significant re-engineering costs. The provinces and territories where this applies will depend on federal orders, so vendors operating nationally should be prepared to meet these requirements across multiple jurisdictions.