Results at a Glance

• 450,000+ patient charts migrated
• 200+ users supported, including staff, physicians, and allied health
  professionals
• 500+ Health Link bookings within one month of launching the Public Booking tool
• More than 6 minutes saved per patient on charting tasks
• Daily capacity increased by 25% in one program
• One connected patient communication experience

About Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network

The Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network team of more than 200 physician, resident,
healthcare, administrative, and allied health professionals makes up one of Alberta’s largest and most multifaceted primary care networks.

Across this broad team, Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network delivers care through multiple programs, referral-based pathways, group workshops, self-referral services, and semi-urgent care models such as Access 365. This scale means the network is not built around one clinic workflow, but around many teams, appointment types, documentation needs, and patient access points working together to support care across the community.

The Challenge

Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network needed technology that could support the reality of a large, multidisciplinary care environment. The team is comprised of 200 physicians, residents, healthcare, administrative, operational, and allied health professionals. This was not one clinic with one workflow. It was a network of programs, providers, and care pathways that each needed the same system to work in different ways.

That scale also carried technical weight. The primary care network needed a single instance environment capable of supporting hundreds of providers and hundreds of thousands of patient records, while preserving clinical data integrity through a large scale migration from their legacy EMR. For a care network of this size, moving to a new EMR was not just a software change. It required trust in the migration process, confidence in the accuracy of patient information, and the ability to keep care moving across a large organization.

The operational needs were just as complex. Some programs were referral-based, while others supported self-referral. Some teams needed longer appointments and detailed documentation. Others needed faster booking, centralized intake, program-level permissions, and easier ways to coordinate across care teams. They needed collaborative workflows that could support shared care without compromising governance, access controls, or the boundaries between different programs.

The Solution

A single instance platform for a large care network

Ava supported Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network on a single instance platform built to handle the scale of a large primary care network. This gave hundreds of providers and team members a shared foundation to work from, while still allowing different programs, roles, and care teams to operate in ways that matched their needs.

A large-scale migration with clinical continuity protected

Ava supported a successful large-scale data migration of 450,000+ patient charts, helping Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network move a significant volume of patient records while preserving clinical data integrity. For a network responsible for hundreds of thousands of patient records, this was a critical part of the transition. The goal was not only to move data, but to make sure care teams could trust what followed them into the new system.

AI-supported documentation

Ava Scribe helped reduce some of the documentation weight in care environments where appointments can be longer and charting can be extensive. Current data has indicated that Ava Scribe is saving an average of 6 minutes per patient. In one program, those time savings contributed to a 25% increase in daily appointment capacity.

Custom tools for specific workflows

Ava worked with Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network to build and refine tools that matched how their programs actually operate. This included program-level permissions and Public Booking, helping teams manage referrals, access, and program-specific workflows without forcing every part of the organization into the same structure.

Because Ava is built on a modern foundation, those tools could be developed and refined quickly around real operational needs. Instead of waiting on a rigid system to catch up, Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network could work with Ava to shape workflows as the need became clear, test what worked, and continue improving from there.

Public Booking became one of the clearest examples of that work in action. In the first month external partners were given access to the Public Booking site, Health Link made 511 bookings directly into Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network’s system. That meant patients could be connected to the right appointment pathway with fewer handoffs, less back-and-forth, and a clearer route into semi-urgent care.

Ongoing improvement through partnership

The work did not end at implementation. Ava continued to refine functionality with Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network through updates and feedback, including improvements like chart notifier, data streaming, tagging, and Address Book changes.

“We have appreciated partnering with a company that aligns with our own values of collaboration, respect, and innovation.”
- Liz Deneer, Director