HEART FAILURE ADVOCACY: THE STATE OF HF SERVICES AND GDMT PROVINCIAL COVERAGE IN CANADA/ JOINT PRESENTATION OF THE HEART AND STROKE FOUNDATION AND THE CCS HF WORKING GROUP
234 - THE STATE OF HEART FAILURE SERVICES IN CANADA: FINDINGS OF THE HEART & STROKE NATIONAL HEART FAILURE RESOURCES AND SERVICES INVENTORY
Friday, October 28, 2022
11:20 AM – 11:40 AM EDT
Location: Room 215
Target Audience: Heart Failure Specialists, General: All cardiovascular (clinical and research) health professionals, Allied Health
Medical Director; Cardiologist Heart Function Clinic; Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
identify the location and scope of, and access to heart failure services for people in Canada;
describe current gaps in access to services for people with heart failure; and
discuss efforts to drive systems change and quality improvement initiatives, such as advancing policy, research, awareness, and advocacy efforts to enhance systems of care and service delivery for people experiencing HF and their families; and engagement of people with lived experience (PWLE).
The burden of heart failure (HF) is high in Canada with over 100,000 new diagnoses annually, and more than 750,000 people living with this complex chronic condition that has no cure. HF requires frequent medical monitoring, severely impacts quality of life and caregiver burden, results in frequent hospitalizations and leads to premature mortality. In 2021, several health system partners came together to develop and launch a Heart Failure Action Plan for Canada to address equity n access to heart failure care in Canada. A HF resources and services inventory was conducted to understand the current capacity to manage all aspects of HF care in Canadian acute care hospitals. To inform the action plan, a national Heart Failure Resources and Services Inventory (HF-RaSI) was conducted with all acute care hospitals and urgent care centres in Canada. The HF-RaSI findings describe the available services, processes and resources across a comprehensive spectrum of ambulatory and in-patient settings, including transition services. The inventory questions were developed through a review of HF management and systems of care literature and clinical practice guidelines with consultation from HF experts and people with lived experience. This presentation will provide highlights from the HF RaSI and discussion of opportunities to improve equity in access to heart failure services.
