State of QAM Compliance in Ontario DS.
An independent research project interviewing 30 Directors of Quality, Executive Directors, and COOs across Ontario developmental services agencies. We want to understand what Reg 299/10 audit prep actually looks like inside an agency — not on paper.
Run by Ahmed Younis, founder of Merakey. Aggregated findings published October 2026. No sales pitch. No vendor agenda.
Why this research
The compliance burden is real, but undocumented.
Ontario DS agencies operate under MCCSS Reg 299/10, which contains hundreds of inspection indicators across seven domains. The sector spends roughly $3.4B annually serving 65,000+ Ontarians. Software budgets are flat. Inspector visits last 1–2 weeks. Binder prep consumes director-level time for months.
What we don't have is a clear picture of where the time actually goes, which indicators cause the most pain, and what agencies have tried that worked or failed. The point of this research is to surface that picture honestly — from the people doing the work.
What we're asking
Six questions across 30 conversations.
How many hours does QAM binder prep actually consume?
Across roles, departments, and calendar weeks — from first cleanup pass to final inspector signoff. We want specifics, not averages.
Which indicators cause the biggest gaps?
ISP currency, BSP family acknowledgement, 24-hour incident reports, eMAR reconciliation, abuse-protocol acks, medical appointment logs — where does Reg 299/10 most often outrun operational reality?
What does the compliance workflow actually look like?
Therap, AlayaCare, ShareVision, Goldcare, Home Portal, Excel, paper — we want a real map of the stack and where data lives between audits.
How is the sector thinking about AI post-IPC?
The Ontario IPC released AI Scribe guidance in January 2026. What conversations are happening at board level? What have agencies evaluated? What did they pass on and why?
What would a 10× better workflow look like?
If audit prep dropped from three weeks to three days — what would that change about how you run quality day-to-day? What would you still need a person for?
Where does the sector go from here?
What you wish provincial bodies, vendors, and peer agencies knew. What would make a real difference for your team in the next 24 months.
Methodology
How we run the interviews.
30 minutes by video. Recorded with consent so we can transcribe accurately and not pollute the conversation with note-taking. Aggregated findings get published openly. No agency is identifiable in the published report.
We never quote you by name without explicit written permission. You can withdraw consent and have your recording deleted at any time, including after publication.
30 minutes, by video
Recorded with consent. Transcribed for accuracy.
Aggregated, anonymized findings
No agency identifiable in the published report.
Quotes only with written consent
We'll never attribute anything to you by name without explicit sign-off.
Withdraw consent at any time
Recordings stored encrypted, deleted 12 months after publication, sooner on request.
No PHI captured
We're asking about your workflow, not your individuals.
What you get
A real benchmark on your sector.
Sector benchmarks
See where your agency sits versus peer averages on QAM binder hours, software stack patterns, indicator-by-indicator pain scores, and AI-readiness curves.
Peer insights
What other DoQs are saying about the IPC AI Scribe guidance, vendor evaluations, board conversations, and what they're building or buying next.
Two-week early access
Participants receive the final report two weeks before public release. First look at the data, first chance to use it inside your agency.
About the researcher
This isn't a sales pitch.
I'm Ahmed Younis. I run Merakey, a Canadian healthcare technology company that builds compliance and operations tools for regulated industries. We're actively exploring whether to build software for the Ontario DS sector. Before I write a single line of code that ships to a customer, I want to make sure I'm building for the real pain — not the imagined one.
If this research convinces me there isn't a real, solvable pain in this space, I'll publish the findings, share them with everyone who participated, and go work on something else. If it confirms what I suspect, I'll spend the next year building the right tool with input from the people who'd actually use it.
Either way, the report is yours. Either way, what you say in the interview stays out of marketing material unless you tell me otherwise in writing.
Book a 30-minute interview.
Pick a slot that works for you. No prep needed. Bring your war stories.
Email Ahmed directlyahmed@merakey.io · Mon–Fri response within 24 hours