Niagara Health Deploys AI to Cut Patient Wait Times and Remake Referrals

TORONTO, ON – March 09, 2026 – In a significant move to combat extensive patient wait times and modernize healthcare delivery, Niagara Health is deploying a new suite of artificial intelligence-enhanced technologies across all its sites. The initiative, a deepening of its partnership with VitalHub Corp.'s Novari Health, will centralize and automate the region's complex web of medical referrals, promising to bring greater speed, accuracy, and efficiency to patient care.

The deployment will see Novari’s Medical Imaging Requisition Management (MIRM) and eRequest referral management technologies implemented across Niagara Health’s entire network, including hospitals and urgent care centres in Fort Erie, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Port Colborne, and Welland. The system is designed to overhaul the process for both inpatient and community referrals for critical services like medical imaging and ambulatory clinics such as urology, plastics, and orthopedics.

Tackling the Paper Problem

For years, healthcare systems across Canada have struggled with the administrative burden and inherent inefficiencies of traditional referral processes. Relying on a patchwork of paper forms, faxes, and manual data entry, the system is prone to delays, lost documents, and a frustrating lack of transparency for both clinicians and patients. This administrative bottleneck contributes significantly to the long wait times that have become a hallmark of the Canadian healthcare experience. Recent data highlights this challenge, with one report indicating that 71% of Canadians face an average wait of 131 days to see a specialist.

Niagara Health’s initiative directly confronts this issue. By creating a centralized digital intake, the health authority aims to eliminate the risks and inefficiencies of paper-based workflows. This move is a cornerstone of Niagara Health's broader digital transformation strategy, which seeks to leverage technology to enhance patient safety and create a more cohesive, responsive healthcare system.

“Implementing Novari’s referral management solutions is an important step in advancing Niagara Health’s digital transformation strategy,” said Sonali Kohli, EVP Digital Transformation and Chief Information Officer at Niagara Health. “By centralizing requisition intake, automating workflows and supporting standardized waitlist management, we are improving triage accuracy and communication – ultimately strengthening our ability to deliver timely, coordinated care across all sites.”

How AI Is Reshaping the Referral Pathway

The core of the new system is driven by powerful AI designed to streamline every step of the referral process. A new capability, Novari AI Transcription, acts as an intelligent digital clerk. It automates the intake and processing of referral documents, regardless of whether they arrive as a digital file or a traditional fax. The AI extracts key information, pre-populates data fields, verifies patient details against existing records, and can even detect when a single document contains multiple referral requests.

This level of automation is expected to have a profound impact, freeing up administrative staff from hours of manual transcription to focus on higher-value, patient-focused work. The result is a faster, more accurate referral that enters the system with minimal human intervention.

Beyond initial processing, the system provides AI-enhanced analytics that offer a real-time, comprehensive view of the entire referral landscape. Customizable dashboards allow administrators and clinicians to monitor patient wait times, track referral volumes, and identify workflow bottlenecks before they become critical. This data-driven approach enables the organization to optimize resource utilization, ensuring patients are routed to the most appropriate care setting with the shortest possible wait, often closer to home.

A crucial technical aspect of the project is the tight integration with Niagara Health’s existing Oracle Health (Cerner) electronic health record (EHR) system. This bi-directional link ensures that the Novari platform and the core EHR can seamlessly exchange patient data, schedules, and documents. This prevents the creation of isolated data silos and maintains the EHR as the single source of truth for patient information, a critical factor for clinical safety and workflow efficiency.

A Blueprint for Modernizing Regional Care

The comprehensive scope of the Niagara Health deployment positions it as a potential blueprint for other regional health authorities grappling with similar challenges of aging populations, human resource shortages, and persistent financial pressures. By adopting an enterprise-wide, AI-powered platform for access to care, Niagara is testing a model that prioritizes efficiency and patient flow.

The central intake model has been proven to improve patient access by intelligently triaging and routing referrals. This ensures that a patient's request for care is sent not just to a single office, but to a network of providers, where it can be directed to the first available and most appropriate specialist. This systemic approach is what transforms individual referrals into a managed, efficient process.

“Over the last few years, Novari has played an important role in Niagara Health’s successful digital modernization journey,” stated John Sinclair, President & CEO of Novari Health. “This next step will transform the referral processes and improve access to care for patients in the Niagara Region.”

VitalHub's Strategic Growth in a Competitive Market

For parent company VitalHub Corp., this large-scale deployment is a significant validation of its two-pronged growth strategy, which combines aggressive mergers and acquisitions with organic expansion. The acquisition of specialized companies like Novari Health allows VitalHub to offer a broad and deeply integrated suite of solutions to the healthcare market. Securing a major public-sector contract like the one with Niagara Health demonstrates the success of this model, driving organic growth by leveraging the advanced capabilities of its subsidiaries.

VitalHub has established itself as a formidable player in the global health-tech sector, with a strong financial performance to match. The company has reported impressive growth in its Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), recently surging to over $93 million, fueled by both acquisitions and strong organic growth in the mid-teens. This financial stability allows it to invest in the continuous innovation required to compete in a crowded marketplace that includes numerous providers of AI-driven healthcare solutions.

The key differentiator for VitalHub and Novari appears to be their focus on a comprehensive, integrated “Access to Care Platform” that addresses the entire patient journey, from referral and intake to surgical waitlist management. By offering a solution that not only provides intelligent tools but also integrates deeply with the foundational IT infrastructure of major hospital systems, the company is positioning itself as an essential partner in the ongoing digital transformation of healthcare.