Letter from the CEO – Thank You!

As the calendar year comes to a close, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and dedication advancing cardiac, stroke, and vascular care in Ontario. I’d like to acknowledge the strong commitment of you, our stakeholders, to helping us drive evidence-informed practice; inform planning, access and resource allocation; and, measure and report on quality and outcomes for patients. Thank you.

Fall 2019 also marks the one-year anniversary of our Cardiac, Stroke, and Vascular Leadership Councils, as well as our Clinical Advisory Committee (CAC). These groups are devoted to providing essential input on advancing cardiac, stroke, and vascular care in Ontario. I’d like to thank Dr. Madhu Natarajan, Dr. Leanne Casaubon, and Dr. Sudhir Nagpal as the Chairs of the Cardiac, Stroke, and Vascular Leadership Councils, respectively; and, Dr. Tom Forbes and Ms. Michelle DiEmanuele, as the Chairs of the CAC, for championing the good work of the groups. Thank you to all members for their enthusiasm and support. I also want to thank Dr. Barry Rubin for accepting his new role as the Chair of the New Technologies Planning Committee.

The fall has also seen us starting work on a lower-limb preservation strategy that is focused on standards of care and clinical delivery models to support patients along their clinical pathway, educational toolkits and resources, and performance measurement – more on that in this newsletter. Additionally, we are continuing to engage stroke stakeholders and patients to select a stroke Patient Reported Outcome Measures survey tool and advise on practical implementation considerations.

As we look to the new year, we will continue the important cardiac, stroke, and vascular work we have in progress; and, look forward to two new key initiatives recently approved by our Board of Directors. The first initiative focuses on modernizing the Cardiac Registry, and the second supports integrating heart failure care in the province. We will be updating you on those in the next issue of the CorHealth Quarterly.

In the meantime, on behalf of our Board of Directors, and out team at CorHealth, we wish you all the best for 2020!

Dr. Kevin Smith

Chair, Board of Directors, CorHealth Ontario

Sheila Jarvis

Chief Executive Officer, CorHealth Ontario

December 2019 Articles:

• Letter from the CEO – Thank You!
• New Technologies Planning Committee: More Access to New Life Saving and Enhancing Cardiac, Stroke and Vascular Technologies
• Canadian Cardiovascular Congress and Canadian Stroke Congress Updates
• Endovascular Thrombectomy (EVT) Steering Committee and Telestroke Update
• Vascular Lower-Limb Preservation Strategy
• Aortic Valve Implantation (AVI) Model of Care Project
• Funding Initiative Updates: Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Bundle and Stroke Bundle
• Measurement and Reporting Initiative