The rise of the AI-empowered health consumer 

New EY research highlights how AI is reshaping how Canadians access health information, interpret their own health data and what they expect from their health care experience.

In brief

• Canadians’ relationship with the health care system is changing. While health care clinicians and health organizations remain critical sources of trusted guidance, and consumers now have access to digital tools that help them seek information, monitor their health, interpret data and make more informed decisions in real time.
• AI is accelerating this shift. Intelligent tools can synthesize information, tailor explanations, support symptom interpretation and help individuals better understand their health. For many Canadians, AI is becoming an on-demand source of guidance that can complement traditional pathways for non-urgent care navigation.
• For health leaders, this is more than a technology trend. It reflects changing consumer expectations for health care experiences that are convenient, connected and digitally enabled. Organizations should consider how to safely integrate AI into access, navigation and care experiences while maintaining trust, privacy and clinical accountability.

From information scarcity to information overload

In Canada, health care providers, medical institutions and trusted public health organizations have traditionally served as the primary holders of Canadians' health information, a role shaped by important legal, privacy, clinical and information management responsibilities. 

While these organizations continue to play a critical role in safeguarding health data, the rise of patient portals, personal health technologies and wearables, and growing interoperability across the health care system is giving Canadians unprecedented access to and control over their own health information. 

At the same time, Canadians are increasingly challenged to navigate growing volumes of health data available through a multitude of channels, such as web searches or health apps, interpret complex medical information, and distinguish which information is relevant, reliable and meaningful to their individual health needs.

AI is changing this dynamic. 

Unlike traditional search engines that provide lists of links, AI tools can synthesize information, answer questions conversationally, tailor explanations to individual circumstances and provide immediate responses. As a result, consumers are increasingly turning to AI not only to find health information, but also to help interpret their own health information and apply learnings to inform their care.

AI is becoming a mainstream source of health information

According to EY’s 2026 Consumer Health Survey findings, health care professionals remain the most trusted source of health information, with approximately 60% of Canadians indicating they rely on a health care provider when seeking health guidance. However, alternative information channels are becoming increasingly prominent:

• More than half of Canadians surveyed (56%) rely on search engines to find health information.
• 31% of Canadians surveyed report using AI tools for health information and guidance.
  • Of these Canadians using AI tools for health information and guidance, 52% are Gen Z and 49% are Millennials, indicating the growing preference for AI tools among younger generations.

Several factors may be driving this growth in adoption:

• Immediate access to information at any time
• Personalized responses to questions
• Ability to translate complex clinical concepts into plain language
• Interactive, conversational experiences that allow follow-up questions
• Reduced friction compared to traditional health care access channels 

For many consumers, AI delivers the on-demand experience that aligns with digital expectations established across other sectors, such as banking, retail and travel. Canadians increasingly expect immediate access to information. 

However, as seen across these industries, receiving personalized insights and recommendations from AI tools often requires individuals to share personal and sensitive information, creating important considerations related to privacy, security and the responsible use of personal data.  

From evidence-driven to intelligence-driven: the emergence of AI-supported health care

The rise of AI is also changing how Canadians engage with health care decision-making. 

Among surveyed Canadians who have used AI tools to support health-related decisions, 72% report a perceived overall net positive experience and the reported benefits are significant: 

• 69% indicated they believed AI helped them better understand a health issue. 
• 38% reported that AI helped them prepare for a conversation with a health care professional. 
• 35% indicated they believed AI improved their ability to understand health issues and make decisions. 

These findings suggest that AI is functioning as a form of health literacy support, helping consumers translate complex medical information into actionable understanding. However, most important, AI isn’t simply informing consumers: it’s influencing interactions with the health care system itself.

Popular use cases include:

• Longitudinal health records and AI-powered care navigation: This is being pursued in jurisdictions across the country and internationally to improve access to personal health information and provide individuals with secure, trusted guidance on available care options.
  • EY had the opportunity to support Nova Scotia Health in the development of the YourHealthNS app, which serves as a digital front door to the health system. Through the platform, Nova Scotians can access their own longitudinal personal health record that brings together information from across care settings, including immunizations, hospital visits, diagnostic imaging, lab results and medications.¹ The platform also features AskNova, an AI-powered chatbot that provides a secure environment for Nova Scotians to ask health-related questions and receive guidance on appropriate care options.² 
  • National Health Service (NHS) England is rolling out an AI triage tool through the NHS app to guide patients to the right services and reduce unnecessary demand on phone and in-person triage.³
• Personalized health information and results interpretation: AI tools can explain lab results, medications and diagnoses using plain language and personalized context.
  • Epic is the leading acute care electronic health record platform in North America. Its patient portal, MyChart, has started to increasingly incorporate AI-assisted result explanations through a new built-in AI assistant Emmie.⁴

For providers: modernizing the care environment to enable a connected and personalized care experience 

Health care providers continue to face growing administrative demands in addition to their direct care delivery requirements. AI presents an opportunity to augment clinical expertise and reduce administrative burden, allowing clinicians to spend more time delivering personalized patient care.

Popular use cases include:  

• AI clinical documentation / ambient scribes: These tools automatically generate clinical documentation, encounter summaries and referral letters from patient conversations. Ambient scribes are AI tools that draft clinical notes from patient conversations.
  • The Ottawa Hospital was the first hospital in Canada to deploy Microsoft DAX Copilot to generate draft clinical documentation and reduce physician administrative burden, allowing for more time returned to direct care.⁵ 
  • However, ambient scribe initiatives have since expanded significantly across Canada. Recent examples include Ontario's AI Scribe Program for primary care clinicians, Alberta Health Services' deployment of its ambient scribe solution, Jenkins, across all 81 emergency departments and New Brunswick's Vitalité Health Network implementing AutoScribe for more than 130 family physicians and nurse practitioners.^{6, 7, 8}
  • These examples reflect a broader shift: AI scribes continue to gain momentum across Canada as health systems look to reduce administrative burden, improve clinician experience and return more time to direct care. 
• AI-powered patient intake and clinical data collection: AI-driven, adaptive questionnaires are used to collect detailed patient histories, surface relevant clinical information and standardize data capture for clinicians in preparation for patient appointments.
  • In New Brunswick, Horizon Health Network has partnered with FirstHx to explore intelligent digital intake tools that dynamically tailor questions based on patient responses, enabling patients to share symptoms, medical histories and test results in advance of appointments while providing clinicians with structured, real-time insights to support more informed and personalized care decisions.⁹
• Predictive risk stratification: Identifies patients at elevated risk of deterioration, hospitalization or disease progression so interventions can occur earlier.
  • In Ontario, St. Michael's Hospital's CHARTWatch system uses AI to predict patient deterioration and support earlier clinical intervention.¹⁰