Right Care At The Right Time: How Quebec’s Petal is Helping Canadian Hospitals Improve Access and Efficiency

Canada’s healthcare system is under pressure. Hospitals face mounting demand, staff shortages, and growing expectations from patients who need timely access to care. In this environment, technology that connects people, data, and resources in real time isn’t just helpful—it’s essential.

That’s where Petal, a Quebec City–based health technology company, is making its mark. Founded in 2010 and led by CEO Patrice Gilbert, Petal has become a trusted partner to more than 3,000 healthcare organizations across the country. Its platform is built for what the company calls Real-Time Healthcare Orchestration—the ability to align scheduling, communication, and patient needs into one integrated system so providers can deliver the right care at the right time.

At the heart of Petal’s approach is a commitment to improving both the provider experience and patient outcomes. With more than 95,000 users and over 10 million patients supported, the platform has already helped Canadian healthcare organizations save an estimated $70 million annually in ER visits alone.

For the Waterloo Regional Health Network (Formally Grand River Hospital and St Mary's General Hospital), adopting Petal has been a critical step toward improving coordination across their physician teams. Both hospitals selected Petal through a competitive RFP process and now actively use its Advanced Scheduling and Secure Messaging Console to streamline how shifts are assigned, updated, and communicated.

“Before Petal, making schedule changes or checking on-call coverage was time-consuming and often relied on manual coordination,” said a representative from Grand River Hospital. “Now, physicians can independently manage their schedules, and our staff can focus on supporting care rather than sorting out logistics.”

Petal’s scheduling tools provide real-time visibility into coverage gaps and on-call availability across departments, allowing hospitals to respond faster to changing patient needs. Meanwhile, integrated secure messaging ensures that physicians can communicate directly—cutting down on unnecessary delays and ensuring that critical information reaches the right person at the right time.

The result is a more agile, efficient system—one that benefits providers and patients alike. It’s a small but powerful example of how Canadian innovation can address long-standing inefficiencies in healthcare operations, particularly in times of strain.

For Gilbert, Petal’s CEO, the company’s mission is rooted in transforming the broader system, not just individual workflows.

“We see a future where every hospital can operate in real time—with better coordination, clearer visibility, and stronger outcomes,” says Gilbert. “Healthcare providers deserve tools that help them spend more time with patients and less time managing complexity.”

As the demands on Canada’s healthcare system continue to grow, tools like Petal offer a new standard in digital health infrastructure—built not just for today’s challenges, but for the realities of tomorrow. And with each implementation, Petal is quietly proving that made-in-Canada technology can help deliver the modern, connected healthcare system Canadians deserve.

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This article is part of CCI’s new “By Canadian Innovators” series, which showcases how members of the Council of Canadian Innovators work with homegrown companies to fuel their growth and make Canada more prosperous. Each story in this series highlights the unique contributions of these companies to building a more prosperous, innovation-driven economy. To learn more about the companies CCI works with to build a more prosperous Canada, visit our member directory.