Canada’s Cardiac Care System Fails to Prevent Heart Disease
Canada’s cardiac care system is failing to prevent heart disease, the country’s second-leading cause of death. Heart disease develops gradually, but Canada’s system is designed for episodic care, responding to symptoms as they arise.
This reactive approach has serious consequences. According to a recent national survey, 17% of Canadians lack a regular family doctor, nurse practitioner, or primary care setting. Even those with access to primary care face challenges, with only 37% able to secure an urgent appointment on the same or next day.
The Need for Longitudinal Care
The current system relies on snapshots of a patient’s health, such as blood pressure readings or ECGs, taken during isolated appointments. While essential, these tools cannot track changes in cardiac performance over time.
Canada needs a new layer of care that bridges the gap between medical appointments and hospital-based investigations. This should include portable, repeatable, and clinician-reviewed measurements to establish a baseline and monitor changes in cardiac health.
For certain patient groups, the focus should not only be on the current state of their health but also on how it is evolving. This requires a shift from episodic care to a more longitudinal approach.
Innovative Solutions
Technologies like seismocardiography (SCG) are emerging to address this gap. Recordis, a portable and non-invasive platform developed by LLA Technologies, captures standardized mechanical cardiac information for review by qualified professionals.
Recordis is not a standalone diagnostic tool but complements established diagnostics by providing repeatable mechanical cardiac measurements. This allows clinicians to assess changes in cardiac performance between imaging episodes.
Canadian innovators are developing similar technologies to move care closer to patients and create more consistent information between appointments. These innovations aim to help health systems use specialist resources more efficiently.
A Global Challenge
The challenge of managing chronic diseases through systems designed for isolated encounters is not unique to Canada. Countries worldwide are grappling with aging populations, uneven access to care, and the need to manage conditions that evolve continuously.
However, innovation alone is not enough. Health systems must create pathways to evaluate, adopt, and fund new technologies. Structured pilots should be established to assess the reliability, usability, equity, privacy, and interoperability of longitudinal cardiac technologies.
