What Criticall Ontario does

CritiCall Ontario is a 24-hour-a-day emergency consultation and referral service for hospital-based physicians across the Province of Ontario. Founded in 1988 by Dr. Frank Baillie as a regional program for Central West Ontario, it expanded provincial-wide in 1996 and has been funded continuously by the Ontario Ministry of Health. On November 1, 2025 it officially transferred from Hamilton Health Sciences and now operates as a department of Ornge, Ontario's air ambulance and critical care transport provider. CritiCall's primary surface is the 24/7 call centre at 1-800-668-4357 (HELP), which connects hospital-based physicians with specialist consultants and coordinates patient transfers across all Ontario acute care hospitals.

The technology stack consists of four core provincial systems: the Provincial Hospital Resource System (PHRS), the Critical Care Information System (CCIS), the Repatriation Tool, and the CORD BI data platform. PHRS and CCIS integrate directly with hospital EMRs and ADT systems across more than 95 hospital technical teams, providing near-real-time bed occupancy data on 90%+ of Ontario hospitals and Level 2/3 critical care patient data. The Repatriation Tool, in use across the province since 2014, supports patient-flow requests with 2,000+ active users. CORD BI aggregates Call Centre, PHRS, and Repatriation data into customizable dashboards refreshed every two weeks. Supporting services include the Emergency Department Peer-to-Peer Program, Critical Care Moderate Surge Support (1-877-ONTSURGE), the Provincial Ventilator Stockpile, Emergency Management, Hospital Redirect, and a modernized Case Facilitation System launched October 5, 2023.

CritiCall's business model is a non-commercial, government-funded mandate: there is no pricing, no commercial sales motion, and no external investors. Revenue is a Ministry of Health grant administered through Ornge; the entity serves Ontario acute care hospitals and the physicians inside them, plus provincial health-system stakeholders (Ontario Health, the Ministry) for system planning. Customer segments are tightly defined — hospital-based physicians, acute care hospitals, and provincial healthcare planners — and end access is via the dedicated phone line plus registered access to PHRS, CCIS, Repatriation, and CORD BI platforms.

Name

Criticall Ontario

Legal name

CritiCall Ontario

Website

https://criticall.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

CritiCall Ontario is a Ministry of Health-funded 24/7 emergency consultation and referral call centre serving hospital-based physicians across all Ontario acute care hospitals. It operates provincial data systems (PHRS, CCIS, Repatriation Tool, CORD BI) and is now a department of Ornge.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Coordination Services

NAICS

Ambulatory Health Care Services (621), Ambulance Services (62191)

SIC

Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Nurse Triage & Clinical Call-Center Teletriage Platforms (HLALAJAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Tele-ER / Emergency Department Virtual Triage & Diversion Platforms (HLALAJAJ), Critical Infrastructure & Healthcare Continuity (HPP/COOP) (HLAJAGAH)

Keywords

• Emergency consultation services
• Patient referral coordination
• Critical care information systems
• Hospital resource management
• Healthcare coordination services

Headquarters

HQ city

Hamilton

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Ministry of Health Funding: CritiCall Ontario is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health as a 24-hour-a-day emergency consultation and referral service. This is a government-funded public healthcare service with no commercial revenue model.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CritiCall Ontario operates a 24/7 emergency consultation and referral call centre connecting Ontario hospital-based physicians with specialist consultants and coordinating patient transfers across acute care hospitals. Backed by proprietary information systems (PHRS, CCIS, Repatriation Tool, CORD BI), the service provides real-time bed availability tracking, critical care capacity monitoring, and patient repatriation coordination across Ontario's acute care hospital network.

Product overview

CritiCall Ontario is a 24/7 emergency consultation and referral service for Ontario's acute care hospitals, funded by the Ministry of Health and administered by Ornge. Its portfolio consists of a unified service layer (the Call Centre Service at 1-800-668-4357) backed by three interconnected data systems — the Provincial Hospital Resource System (PHRS), the Critical Care Information System (CCIS), and the Repatriation Tool — all reporting into the CORD BI analytics platform. Supporting services include the Emergency Department Peer-to-Peer Program, Critical Care Moderate Surge Support, Provincial Ventilator Stockpile Access, Emergency Management, and Hospital Redirect. A modernized Case Facilitation System was launched in October 2023 to replace the legacy call intake application.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CCIS (Critical Care Information System): A key component of Ontario's Critical Care Strategy providing near-real time data on every patient admitted to level 3 and level 2 critical care units in Ontario's acute care hospitals.
• PHRS (Provincial Hospital Resource System)
• Repatriation Tool
• CORD BI

Products and services

• Call Centre Service (Urgent and Emergent Support) 24/7 emergency consultation and referral call centre (1-800-668-4357 HELP) connecting Ontario hospital-based physicians with specialist consultants and facilitating patient transfers across the province.
• Provincial Hospital Resource System (PHRS) Province-wide platform providing a single source of real-time information on acute care and psychiatric bed availability and hospital resources, used for case facilitation and crisis coordination across Ontario.
• Repatriation Tool Electronic system enabling hospitals to initiate and receive patient repatriation requests, track timelines, and manage patient flow from higher-level to lower-level acute care hospitals across Ontario.
• Critical Care Information System (CCIS) Near-real-time data collection system tracking every patient admitted to Level 2 and Level 3 critical care units in Ontario's acute care hospitals, with automated EMR integration and reporting dashboards.
• CORD BI Business intelligence portal providing hospitals with customizable dashboards combining key indicators from the Call Centre, PHRS, and Repatriation Tool, with data updated every two weeks.
• Emergency Department Peer-to-Peer Program 24/7 peer consultation program connecting Ontario ED physicians with experienced ED colleagues via real-time audio and videoconferencing for clinically and socially complex patient care issues.
• Critical Care Moderate Surge Support Coordinated provincial response service for hospitals when critical care demand exceeds organizational capacity, facilitated through a dedicated surge response line (1-877-668-7874 ONTSURGE) and regional surge response teams.
• Provincial Ventilator Stockpile Access Service facilitating Ontario hospitals' access to the provincial emergency ventilator stockpile during increased or anticipated demand for critical care equipment.
• Emergency Management Coordinated crisis and disaster response coordination for hospital-level, local, regional, or provincial events, leveraging CritiCall's case facilitation processes and technical systems for patient relocation.
• Hospital Redirect Process enabling hospitals to temporarily modify their participation status in CritiCall Ontario's consultation and transfer system due to planned or unplanned capacity or staffing circumstances.
• Out of Country Transfers and Patient Repatriation Service coordinating the transfer of Ontario patients out of country for emergent care when services are unavailable in Ontario, and managing their repatriation when clinically feasible.

Quantifiable outcome

• 32,000 acute stroke consultations completed since 2002 through the Ontario Telestroke Program
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• OrngecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2025On November 1, 2025, CritiCall Ontario officially transferred from Hamilton Health Sciences to Ornge. This formal integration marks a significant step forward for both organizations in their shared vision of improving outcomes for critically ill or injured patients in Ontario. The integration aims to reduce fragmentation in the province's critical care infrastructure by streamlining transport, referral, and consultation services, particularly benefiting rural and remote communities. CritiCall Ontario is now a department of Ornge.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Info-Santé 811 (Quebec): Quebec's province-wide nurse triage and health information line. Operates a similar model of 24/7 clinical call-center support for residents and physicians, making it the closest functional analog to CritiCall Ontario's hospital-based physician service.
• HealthLink BC 811: British Columbia's provincial health information and triage service. Provides 24/7 nurse triage and physician consultations by phone, comparable in function to CritiCall's teletriage and consultation coordination role for Ontario.
• Fonemed: Canadian nurse triage and telehealth provider offering 24/7 clinical call-center services to patients and healthcare organizations. Operates a comparable nurse triage and care navigation business model across multiple Canadian provinces.
• Critical Care Services Ontario (CCSO): Ontario's provincial critical care strategy implementation body. Co-launched the modernized CCIS with CritiCall in September 2023 and operates the Critical Care Response Teams whose consultation data CritiCall's CCIS captures.

Broad incumbents

• Ornge: Ontario's air ambulance and critical care transport provider and CritiCall's parent organization as of November 2025. Provides related but distinct emergency medical transport services that CritiCall coordinates with through patient transfer and repatriation services.
• Ontario Health (OTN - Ontario Telemedicine Network): Provincial agency overseeing healthcare delivery and digital health in Ontario, including the legacy Ontario Telemedicine Network. Provides complementary telehealth infrastructure that CritiCall's telestroke and consultation services integrate with.
• Teladoc Health: Global virtual care platform providing 24/7 physician consultations and care coordination. A broader commercial incumbent in the telehealth and care navigation space where CritiCall operates its hospital-based consultation service.

Emerging players

• Carbyne: Cloud-based emergency coordination platform serving 911/public safety answering points with real-time video, location, and data capabilities. Comparable in enabling emergency dispatch and coordination but focused on general emergency rather than healthcare-specific triage.

Others

• Hamilton Health Sciences: CritiCall's former parent organization until the November 2025 transfer to Ornge. A major Ontario academic hospital system that previously administered CritiCall and continues to collaborate through shared physician leadership.

Regional players

• Global Medical Response: U.S.-based emergency medical services and patient transport provider. Operates in a related emergency medical coordination space but in a different geography; relevant for understanding interfacility transfer coordination models.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/criticallont
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/criticall-ontario

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Criticall Ontario