Rethinking technology | Medical Council of Canada

As the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) evolves and innovates, our technological needs are changing, too. The organization’s new technology transformation strategy will ensure that the MCC is well-positioned to enhance our operational efficiency, safeguard digital assets more effectively, and deliver on our business objectives well into the future. This multi-year digital transformation, which aligns with the MCC’s strategic objectives, will also significantly improve the candidate experience, optimize resource allocation, support cybersecurity measures, and enable the organization to better leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline operations.

“As we continue to innovate as an organization, our technology needs to adapt alongside us,” says Brian Jackson, director of Business Technology at the MCC. “Because some of our systems required significant updates, we decided it was time to undertake a comprehensive look at all of our business technology, focusing on reducing complexity and leveraging industry best practices, all while ensuring robust and sustainable growth.”

In line with the MCC’s broader strategic objectives, the technology transformation strategy will help to enhance programs of assessment for physician licensure, better support international medical graduates, enable health human resource planning, strengthen systemic collaboration, and will ensure that resources are sustainably managed for organizational effectiveness. To achieve those outcomes, the MCC is moving forward with the selection and implementation of a COTS, or ‘commercial-off-the-shelf,’ first approach to replace its in-house-built, custom applications. A shift in the availability, flexibility, and configurability of software as a service (Saas) platforms make today’s COTS applications a more sustainable and financially feasible option for meeting the MCC’s business objectives.

Transforming the candidate experience

With the adoption of COTS solutions, the MCC’s technological strategy is focused specifically on improving processes for the medical students, graduates, and physicians who engage with the organization. Automating many processes that were once handled manually will reduce processing time for applications and will provide candidates with faster turnaround on their verification and licensure processes. These technological solutions will also enhance communication and transparency with features like automated notifications, real-time status updates, and a centralized candidate portal.

“Improving transparency will ensure that candidates are consistently informed about the progress of their applications and any required actions,” says Mr. Jackson. “It will ultimately reduce uncertainty and improve overall satisfaction.”

New self-service capabilities, including a more intuitive and responsive interface, will allow candidates to manage their profiles, upload documents and track their application statuses directly, empowering them to manage their own progress.

Enhancing cyber security

Several new initiatives will also enhance cybersecurity at the MCC. The technology strategy is focused on improving infrastructure, ensuring that systems are equipped to handle evolving security threats while securely maintaining organizational data and candidate information. The integrated COTS solutions will include enhanced security protocols, including encryption and secure user authentication, that will reduce the vulnerabilities associated with legacy systems. A new multi-factor authentication (MFA) will add a further level of security for accessing the new systems, along with stronger encryption requirements for all data. These enhanced security measures will ensure that all sensitive data, including candidate information, is protected both during storage and transmission, reducing the risk of data breaches.

The strategy also includes consolidating data into centralized, secure platforms, allowing for security measures to be more consistently applied, and for data access and use to be more easily monitored. Audit trails and secure logging, along with incident and breach notification plans, will further enhance data security, including the flagging of any unauthorized access attempts.

Leveraging AI

The MCC’s transformation strategy also includes plans to leverage AI to enhance operations and improve efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, improving the accuracy and speed of processes, and providing valuable insights from data. Integrating Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, for example, will allow for the automated scanning, recognition, and classification of various types of documents that were once handled manually, including verifying candidates’ identities and academic records. AI will help to recognize document types, detect potential fraud, and flag inconsistencies for further review. AI is also being used to improve reporting and analytics, including through identifying trends and patterns in data which can be used to optimize workflows, detect bottlenecks, and make data-informed decisions.

The potential integration of an AI-powered chat support system as a feature is also part of the transformation strategy. This could provide candidates with immediate answers to common queries, improving the responsiveness of MCC’s support services, and allowing human support staff to focus on more complex issues. AI technology may also be leveraged to do real-time data matching in candidates’ profiles and to detect duplicates, and for risk detection and compliance through identifying applications or documents requiring attention from human reviewers.

The technology transformation strategy is a necessary and exciting shift for the MCC that will allow our organization to enhance its service delivery, reduce operational overhead, and improve the overall experience for candidates.