Ava wasn’t born in a boardroom. It started at the frontlines of care and never left.

Born in Canada, Ava is one of the country’s leading electronic medical record (EMR) systems trusted by clinics across Alberta and BC. Designed by physicians who were fed up with clunky, outdated EMRs, Ava was shaped by the real needs of Canadian healthcare: faster charting, simpler workflows, and more time for patients.

From one clinic to hundreds, this is how Ava reshaped the EMR.

2016: Small Beginnings

Ava began in a place many great ideas do: a clinic under pressure.

In 2016, Dr. Matt Henschke and Dr. Mike Forseth were co-founders of Britannia Medical Clinic in Calgary. Like many physicians, they were tired of EMRs that made their work harder, not easier. So, instead of complaining, they built their own.

The first version of Ava was deeply pragmatic. It wasn’t polished, but it worked. Designed by clinicians who understood the grind of practice, it streamlined charting, brought clarity to the daily rush, and let them focus more on care and less on clicks.

2019: The Moment Things Changed

The first clinic outside of Britannia to use Ava was The Mustard Seed, a health and human services non-profit in Alberta. There was no formal migration, Dr. Forseth simply went down himself, trained the team, and got them running. That hands-on approach set the tone for Ava’s culture.

Then something unexpected happened. One of the physicians at the Mustard Seed wrote a glowing feature in the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) magazine. That article sparked a ripple effect. Clinics like Care@Sagehill, Charles Clark Medical Clinic, PurposeMed, and Wildrose began reaching out. Ava wasn’t being sold, it was being sought by clinics that needed a modern solution to their workflow.

"Whoever created Ava knew what needed to be done."
— Tracy Peterson, MOA, Trinity Rose Medical​

What began as a solution for one clinic was starting to feel like the future for many.

2020-2024: Scaling with Purpose

By 2020, Ava was no longer just an EMR built for one Calgary clinic. It was becoming a platform clinics across Western Canada were counting on, and scaling came with hard-earned lessons. Early migrations pushed the team to rebuild from scratch, forging what would become one of Ava’s greatest strengths: clean, reliable transitions off legacy systems and into a modern electronic medical record designed for real clinical workflow.

As adoption accelerated, Ava expanded beyond charting into connection. Ava Connect launched, giving patients secure access to lab results, appointments, and messaging, bringing the patient portal experience Canadian clinics had been waiting for.

The company grew with purpose, adding new developers, support leads, and implementation teams while building features for complex clinic groups, multi-location practices, and collaborative care. By 2023, Ava expanded into British Columbia, integrated with Excelleris Labs and Teleplan Billing, and surpassed 175 clinics live across Alberta, proving that a Canadian-built EMR could scale without losing its soul.

“Yes, I’m familiar with Ava. It’s probably the best EMR in the business.”
— Locum, Athabasca Medical Clinic

In 2024, Ava stepped into its next era. The Ava Intelligence Suite launched, introducing predictive insights, automated workflows, and a reimagined Ava Scribe that changed how physicians interact with healthcare software. Ava also achieved ISO 27001 certification, meeting the highest global standards for security and patient data protection.

By the end of 2024, Ava wasn’t just growing. It was redefining what a modern EMR in Canada could feel like: fast, intelligent, deeply human, and built to return time back to care.

2025: Becoming One of Canada’s Top EMRs

In 2025, Ava became more than a fast-growing EMR. It became one of the most recognized and trusted healthcare technology companies in Canada.

Clinics across the country continued moving from legacy systems like PS Suite, Juno, Med Access, CHR, Healthquest, and Accuro into Ava, drawn by its speed, clarity, and the way it truly supports care. Ava surpassed 6 million patient charts, now serving over 2,500 providers across more than 300 clinics, scaling toward a new national standard for modern electronic medical records.

This year also marked a major geographic milestone: Ava announced its expansion into Ontario, bringing its made-in-Canada EMR to the next stage of national growth.

But 2025 was about more than scale. It was about purpose.

Ava became B Corp certified, a milestone that reflects what has always been true: Ava exists to make healthcare better for providers and patients, not just to profit. It is healthcare technology built with responsibility at its core, grounded in the belief that better systems create better care, and that innovation should always move in the direction of people.

That profit and mission balance was also recognized nationally. Ava was named to the Deloitte Fast 50 Companies-to-Watch, achieving 364% revenue growth, and received the Vendor Innovation Program award, marking Ava as one of the most impactful EMR innovators in the country.

This year also showed how Ava took AI in healthcare beyond scribes and into the future of clinical intelligence. Not as a third-party add-on, but as technology built directly into the core of the EMR. Tools like AutoChart, document classifiers, AI-powered care plans, and Patient Summary began reshaping how physicians navigate complexity, reducing the weight of documentation and bringing instant clarity to patient care.

“I just wanted to say how absolutely amazing Ava is. Literally I think I've lived longer because of it.”
— Dr. Meyer

What Comes Next

Healthcare is changing, and the EMR has to change with it.

Ava started in one clinic. Now it supports millions of patient charts across Canada, bringing together security, intelligence, and speed in one modern platform.

Not built for clicks. Built for care.

And as Ava expands nationally, one thing remains true:

The best healthcare technology doesn’t replace the human side of medicine. It protects it.