The number of patients undergoing advanced cardiac procedures has increased significantly and is expected to continue increasing. Five new cardiac centres have been announced by the Ministry since 1998 and are phasing in their programs. Two other new centres are located at Peterborough Regional Health Centre, which opened its cath lab in May 2000, and at St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener, which commenced providing cath services in February 2001. The newest centre, a cath lab at Toronto East General Hospital, is currently preparing to open its program. Cardiac Care in Canada's Health-Care System Coronary heart disease is a leading cause of death in Canada.
Cardiac catheterization is used in the diagnosis of patients' cardiac condition.
Prevention of heart disease or its recurrence is the goal of cardiac rehabilitation. In Canada's universal health-care system, funding of cardiac services is centrally determined and allocated by the provinces. In Ontario, CCN was established as a partnership among government and the doctors and hospitals providing advanced cardiac care, for purposes of planning, coordinating and monitoring the provision of services. In 1998 the federal Ministry of Health announced plans to fund a national project to study standardized, manageable systems for dealing with waiting lists for medical procedures. See CCN's newsletter for April 2000 for more information about waiting-list management in Canada.