I speak to the people who build, buy and run health technology about what their work looks like from the hospital bed. I spent my career on their side of the table before I became a patient who depends on what we built.
Recent Talks
Mind the Gap. If Only Someone Had.
Digital Health Innovation Conference 2026, HIMSS Eastern Canada Chapter, Toronto, October 22, 2026
A field report from a patient who tripped over the gaps between care settings, told to an audience of the people who build the connections. My team rolled out the provincial tools in question, and I still fell through the spaces between them. Each of my three stories describes a moment when the information already existed, a decision was being made, and nobody had a way to carry the one to the other. Costs avoided are costs shifted, usually onto patients and the caregivers beside them.
Topics
- Interoperability gaps, seen from the patient side of the bed
- The digital front door, as experienced by the person trying to get in
- Judging AI against what happens today without it
- Why patients are missing from digital health conference stages
- Caregivers as the second user few design teams consider
Bio for Event Organizers
Mike Martineau co-founded NSTN in 1990, one of Canada’s first commercial Internet service providers, and was recognized by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien for opening the Canadian Internet to commercial use. His health IT career took him to both sides of the table, first selling clinical systems and later deploying them, including as project manager for the ConnectingOntario rollout across northern and eastern Ontario. After a diagnosis of MDS, a blood cancer, and two transplants, he now navigates the system as a patient. He writes at digitalpatient.ca.
Invite Me to Speak
To invite me to a conference, panel or planning session, email michael.martineau@digitalpatient.ca. I tailor each talk to the audience in the room.
