Competition Bureau is investigating WELL Health

OTTAWA – The Competition Bureau is investigating WELL Health Technologies Corp., a consolidator of medical clinics and health-technology companies, over concerns that some of its biggest acquisitions this year are lessening competition for AI transcription and medical-record software.

A report by Chris Hannay in the Globe and Mail says the Competition Bureau filed an application in Federal Court on Nov. 12 for a court order to obtain information from WELL Health, with a hearing set for Dec. 9. The request is related to WELL Health’s acquisition of a controlling interest in HEALWELL AI Inc. on April 1 and HEALWELL’s concurrent acquisition of Orion Health Holdings Ltd., a global provider of medical-record software based in New Zealand.

WELL Health told the Globe and Mail it was “working collaboratively” with the bureau to resolve the investigation.

For its part, WELL Health was founded in 2017 by chairman and chief executive officer Hamed Shahbazi (pictured) as a network of yoga studios, then switched to healthcare the following year. It owned 227 medical clinics – a mix of primary care, diagnostics and executive-health locations – as of Sept. 30, according to third-quarter financial filings.

It earned $1-billion in revenue for the first nine months of 2025, most of which came from patient services, and posted a net loss of $27.5-million.

WELL Health said it plans to take software subsidiary WELLSTAR public next year and is in the process of divesting its U.S. subsidiary Circle Medical, which has been under investigation in the United States for its billing practices, the Globe and Mail said.

Along with TELUS Health and a Loblaw-owned subsidiary, QHR Technologies Inc., WELL Health is one of the three major providers of medical-record software for doctors’ offices in Canada.

One of HEALWELL’s major businesses is using artificial intelligence to analyze records and identify patients who would be of interest to pharmaceutical companies.

The Competition Bureau’s application focuses on a series of deals between WELL Health and HEALWELL, which completed an initial public offering in early 2021 under the name MCI Onehealth Technologies Inc.

The relationship was formalized in 2023 when MCI Onehealth announced it had sold a minority stake and its medical clinics to WELL Health, signed a strategic alliance agreement and renamed itself HEALWELL.

On April 1 this year, HEALWELL acquired Orion Health and, concurrently, WELL Health exercised a call option to take majority ownership in HEALWELL.

In its application, the Competition Bureau said this vertical integration of businesses could make it hard for other companies to compete in these markets. For example, other technology companies could find it difficult to sell to WELL Health’s clinics or integrate with its existing products.

The bureau said it contacted WELL Health on May 15 about the acquisition. After exchanges of letters and virtual meetings, WELL Health filed a pre-merger notification form on June 20 and a letter “explaining the circumstances surrounding its failure to notify the commissioner prior to closing the HEALWELL transaction.”

The agency said its staff and lawyers have met multiple times with WELL Health since then, including an Oct. 20 meeting with Mr. Shahbazi, to discuss their concerns and the scope of the draft court order.

The Competition Bureau is seeking internal documents and communications, some of which go back to 2022, and has requested written information, such as how the companies plan to store, use and monetize patient data.