Medication prescribing and administration errors are among the most significant patient safety risks in pediatric and neonatal care. Fraser Health Medication prescribing and admHealthcare organizations face ongoing challenges in maintaining robust staff immunization programs while managing escalating operational pressures and resource constraints. Traditional in-house delivery models requiring extensive planning, logistics coordination, staff training, and documentation have become increasingly unsustainable, consuming disproportionate clinical time without consistently improving immunization uptake.
At Yukon Hospital Corporation (YHC), the annual staff immunization clinic has become a significant operational bottleneck. The Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) team dedicates substantial capacity to organizing clinic logistics, recruiting and training peer immunizers, scheduling personnel, managing payroll, and processing documentation. Peer immunizers face additional demands from mandatory online education and data entry in Panorama (Yukon’s public health information system). This dual burden has resulted in significant budget overruns through overtime compensation and the need to backfill patient care units with casual staff, diverting critical resources from frontline care.
YHC and CAN Health are posting this Call for Innovation to seek out qualified Canadian companies who can meet the desired outcomes. YHC and CAN Health reserve the right to not move forward with this project at its full discretion and in particular if there are no qualified Canadian companies that can reasonably meet the desired outcomes.
To qualify for a CAN Health project, the company must meet ALL the following criteria:
- Headquartered in Canada (additional criteria apply for companies not headquartered in Canada)
- Majority ownership of both the company and the solution by Canadians
- Solution at Technology Readiness Level (TRL)>7, indicating actual technology completed and qualified through tests and demonstrations
- All the data and AI models (if applicable) must be hosted in Canada and comply with all the Canadian privacy regulations
- Possess all regulatory approvals required for commercialization, such as Health Canada approval
- Completion of all required clinical validity/unity studies
- No need for policy changes to be widely adopted
- Strong use cases in the Canadian healthcare system
- Active Elevate Membership with CAN Health Network (must be active at the time of project launch; not required to apply).
- Agreement to a Project Facilitation Agreement with CAN Health, with a facilitation fee that varies based on the scope of the project.
If the company is not headquartered in Canada or the solution is not majority owned by Canadians, additional criteria apply:
- Independent autonomy over business operations and product development (for subsidiaries, affiliates or distributors)
- High Canadian job creation potential, especially in executive and senior management positions
- Commitment of over 70% of contract value to Canada.
During the company selection process, preference is given to companies/solutions fully owned by Canadians, followed by those majority owned by Canadians, and finally international companies with a significant presence and economic impact in Canada.
For more information on the Call for Innovation process and the commercialization projects funded by CAN Health Network, please refer to the FAQ page on the CAN Health Network website: https://canhealthnetwork.ca/faq/
Problem Statement:
YHC’s annual staff immunization clinics require extensive planning and administrative work – clinic logistics, advertising, recruiting and training, scheduling, payroll, and documentation. Peer immunizers also struggle with mandatory online education requirements and the data entry/record management workload in Panorama. The combined effect is a significant strain on an already limited workforce.
Objectives:
YHC is seeking a Canadian vendor to support the organization and deployment of the fall 2026 staff immunization clinic, including the completion of health records and reporting – reducing the internal administrative and operational burden on the IPAC/OHN team while maintaining strong immunization coverage among staff.
Essential (mandatory) outcomes
The proposed solution must provide:
Time Savings
- IPAC/OHN nurse team related to decrease time spent on administration to coordinate clinic and follow-up
Cost Savings
- Reduce expenditures on staff volunteers working as peer immunizers
Staff Safety & Well-Being
- Improve spread and uptake of immunizations
The maximum duration for a project resulting from this Challenge is: 9 months
Staff immunization programs are foundational to healthcare infection prevention and organizational safety, particularly as healthcare systems face escalating workforce challenges and resource constraints. However, inefficient immunization clinic delivery leads to preventable operational strain, increased costs, and compromised staff participation – ultimately undermining immunization coverage and staff safety outcomes. At Yukon Hospital Corporation, the burden of annually organizing and delivering in-house immunization clinics has become unsustainable, consuming significant IPAC team capacity for logistics, scheduling, training, and documentation, while peer immunizers face compounded demands from mandatory online education and data entry in Panorama (Yukon’s public health information system). These pressures directly impact staff well-being, willingness to participate, and the organization’s ability to maintain robust immunization uptake across its workforce.
