Philips Future Health Index 2025 Canada Report Reveals Systemic Strain, AI Potential, and a Critical Trust Gap in Healthcare
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, has released its inaugural Future Health Index (FHI) 2025 Canada report, titled “Building Trust in Healthcare AI.” The comprehensive study paints a sobering yet hopeful picture of Canada’s healthcare landscape—highlighting severe access delays, mounting administrative burdens on clinicians, and a significant disconnect between healthcare professionals and patients regarding the role of artificial intelligence (AI). While AI is widely seen by providers as a powerful tool to alleviate systemic pressures, the report underscores that trust must be deliberately cultivated if the technology is to fulfill its transformative potential.
A System Under Strain: Canadians Waiting Too Long for Care
One of the most alarming findings in the report is the extent to which Canadians are suffering due to delayed access to care. Nearly half of all patients (45%) report experiencing long wait times when trying to secure appointments with physicians. Even more concerning, 27% say their health visibly worsened while waiting for treatment. Perhaps most strikingly, 1 in 5 Canadians (20%) ended up hospitalized—a far more serious and costly intervention—simply because they could not access timely outpatient or specialist care.
Specialist care is particularly difficult to obtain. The report reveals that 71% of Canadians seeking specialist appointments faced extended delays, with the average longest wait time reaching 131 days. This figure is not only the highest among the 16 countries surveyed in the global FHI study but also nearly double the global average, underscoring a critical vulnerability in Canada’s healthcare infrastructure. For many patients, especially those in rural or underserved regions, these delays can mean the difference between manageable chronic conditions and life-threatening complications.
The Hidden Cost: Administrative Burden on Clinicians
While patients wait, healthcare professionals are grappling with their own challenges—chief among them, inefficient data systems and administrative overload. According to the report, 85% of Canadian healthcare professionals (HCPs) report losing valuable clinical time because patient data is either incomplete or difficult to access. Alarmingly, nearly half of these clinicians lose more than 45 minutes per shift—time that could otherwise be spent with patients.
This administrative drag not only fuels burnout but also limits the system’s capacity to respond to growing demand. With an aging population and rising rates of chronic disease, the need for efficiency has never been greater. Here, AI emerges as a potential lifeline.
AI as a Catalyst for Change
The FHI 2025 report finds strong optimism among Canadian healthcare professionals about AI’s capabilities. Ninety percent (90%) of HCPs believe that, when implemented thoughtfully and ethically, AI can help them reclaim time by automating repetitive, non-clinical tasks—such as documentation, scheduling, and data entry. Beyond efficiency, AI also holds promise for expanding access to quality care, particularly in areas facing shortages of specialist staff.
For example, AI-powered clinical decision support tools can empower less experienced clinicians—such as those in remote communities—to make more informed, evidence-based decisions, effectively “leveling up” their diagnostic and treatment capabilities. This could help bridge geographic disparities and ensure that high-quality care isn’t confined to urban centers.
Moreover, AI can enhance predictive analytics, enabling earlier interventions for at-risk patients and reducing preventable hospitalizations—precisely the kind of outcome that could address the 1-in-5 hospitalization statistic highlighted in the report.
The Trust Gap: A Major Barrier to Adoption
Despite this optimism among providers, a significant trust gap exists between clinicians and patients when it comes to AI. While 86% of healthcare professionals believe AI can improve patient outcomes, only 49% of patients share that confidence—a 37-percentage-point divide, one of the largest observed across all 16 countries in the FHI study.
This skepticism is not rooted in outright rejection but rather in uncertainty and lack of transparency. Many patients fear that AI could depersonalize care, introduce errors, or be used to cut costs at the expense of quality. However, the report offers a hopeful insight: patients are more receptive to AI when they understand its purpose and benefits.
Specifically, Canadians express greater willingness to accept AI when it is used to:
- Improve access to care (e.g., reducing wait times),
- Reduce medical errors (e.g., through diagnostic support),
- Give doctors more time for meaningful, face-to-face interactions.
This suggests that the path to adoption lies not in pushing technology for its own sake, but in demonstrating clear, human-centered value.
A Call for Collaborative Leadership
“AI holds extraordinary promise to transform Canada’s healthcare system by improving access to care, reducing administrative burden, and delivering more personalized care,” said Darran Fischer, Managing Director of Philips Canada. “But realizing this potential requires more than just advanced algorithms—it demands strong, sustained collaboration across the entire healthcare ecosystem.”
Fischer emphasized that building trust in AI is a shared responsibility. Healthcare providers, patient advocacy groups, policymakers, regulators, researchers, and industry partners must work together to ensure that AI is deployed transparently, equitably, and with patient consent at its core. This includes investing in digital literacy, establishing clear ethical guidelines, and involving patients in the design and implementation of AI tools.
