LOCVM Research Team Presents At OntarioMD Educates 2026

On October 2, LOCVM’s research team presented at OntarioMD Educates: Digital Health Conference 2026 in Toronto, sharing preliminary findings from our research on physician locum coordination in Ontario primary care.

Dr. Joyce Cheung and Dr. Angélique Bernabé presented “Filling the Coverage Gap: A Digital Platform (LOCVM) Connecting Physicians for Locum Coordination in Ontario Primary Care.”

The research explores how physicians currently find and coordinate locum coverage, the challenges they experience along the way, and how digital tools can support a more connected, transparent, and flexible approach.

Early themes from the research point to the importance of transparency, network visibility and trust, privacy and control, and flexibility when designing tools for physician coverage.

The session was also an opportunity to connect with physicians and digital health leaders interested in improving how coverage works across the healthcare system. We were especially glad to have Ontario Medical Association President Dr. Rebecca Hicks join the session and the conversation.

This work is being conducted with support from Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Medicine, with contributions from our research team, including Avery Bendell, Helen Hailu, and Leora, and support from William Osler Health System.

For LOCVM, research is an important part of how we build. Listening to physicians and understanding how coverage works in practice helps us design technology around the people who will actually use it.

We look forward to sharing more from this work as the research progresses.