Empower vs. Ocean vs. Cortico — an honest comparison.
Based on public information as of July 2026. Vendors change; if we've got something wrong, tell us and we'll fix it: team@empower.ca.
| Dimension | Empower Health | Ocean (OceanMD) | Cortico |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design philosophy | All patients in — high uptake is the goal | Restriction-first configuration; booking limited by patient status, frequency rules, exact-match validation | Patient-friendly; targets high online share |
| Who can book | New, returning, rostered, unattached; with or without health card | Health card + exact record match commonly required; non-matching patients directed to phone | Broad patient support |
| Languages | All languages | Limited | Multiple languages |
| Same-day / high volume | Core design — clinics run 100% online, thousands of appts/week | Supported with configuration | Supported |
| Family / caregiver booking | Yes — multi-child, linked accounts | Limited | Household features |
| Pricing model | Per-clinic subscription; funded pilot available — calculator | Per-schedule licences — $60/schedule/mo for online booking ($31/provider basic tier without OAB, Apr 2026 list) + $0.11/SMS + add-ons and possible EMR surcharges; repeated price increases | Published tiers: $86 / $119 / $199 per FTE/mo |
| Regional / OHT coordination | Proven — regional virtual care since 2023, COVID programs before that | Widely used in OHT programs; strong eReferral network | Growing multi-clinic support |
| What uptake is worth | Every point of online-booking share is staff time saved and no-show slots recovered — modelled by payment model, with sources | Restriction-first gating caps realisable value regardless of licence price | Higher ceiling than gated tools; value depends on language coverage |
| Where they're strong | Patient uptake, equity, same-day, campus SSO, funded innovation | Incumbency, government programs, eReferral ecosystem | Feature breadth, transparent pricing, content marketing |
The number that decides this comparison isn't in the table. 2024 survey data found a large majority of providers offer patient self-scheduling, but only about 3% of practices report more than three-quarters of patients actually using it. Owning a booking tool and getting value from one are different things — here's how we put a dollar figure on the gap.
Also in the market: Pomelo (TELUS) and Medeo/Accuro Engage — strongest for clinics that want everything from one telecom vendor; Veribook — OSCAR-only with transparent pricing. See how they price out for your clinic in the cost calculator.
All trademarks belong to their respective owners. Comparison reflects public materials as of July 2026 and our understanding of typical configurations; individual deployments vary. [REVIEW with marketing/legal before promoting this page in paid campaigns.]
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