Elevating Vascular Ultrasound Care for Patients in Ontario: New Provincial Standards Released
May 1, 2025On May 1, 2025, Ontario Health released Common Core Standards for Vascular Ultrasound in Ontario (VUS Standards), an important step toward standardizing and improving the quality and consistency of VUS care for patients across the province.
VUS plays a critical role in screening, surveillance, and diagnosis of patients with limb- and/or life-threatening vascular disease. Over 2.2 million VUSs were performed in both hospital and community facilities throughout Ontario in fiscal year 2023/24, with billing costs exceeding $113 million. Anecdotally, however, VUS exams are often repeated unnecessarily, leading to increased health care costs and potential harm to patients.
“The primary objective of these new VUS Standards is to elevate VUS to a new standard of care by establishing common core protocols, ensuring a minimum quality benchmark is met across the province. The VUS Standards aim to enhance equity, reduce unnecessary repeat studies, and ensure that clinicians receive complete and relevant information to provide optimal vascular care for patients. This document is the first of many steps towards improving the VUS landscape in Ontario.”
Dr. Varun Kapila, Provincial Clinical Lead, Vascular, Ontario Health
Why Standardization Matters
While standards of practice and professional performance guidelines for VUS exist at the national and international levels, there has been variability in which standards and/or guidelines have been adopted by facilities performing VUS in Ontario. What has been absent, until now, are clinically-focused best-practice provincial VUS standards and their consistent use by all facilities performing VUS across the province.
A Province-Wide Collaborative Effort
The VUS Standards were developed with oversight from Ontario Health’s Vascular Program in collaboration with Ontario Health’s Medical Imaging and PET Clinical Programs and reflect the expertise and consensus of a working group of diagnostic radiologists, sonographers, vascular interventional radiologists, and vascular surgeons. The working group was co-led by Dr. Narinder Paul (Chair, Medical Imaging, Western, and Department Head, Medical Imaging, London Health Sciences Centre and St Joseph’s Hospital, London) and Dr. Andrew Dueck (Head, Division of Vascular Surgery, Schulich Heart Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Assistant Professor, University of Toronto), who brought together perspectives from across the health care system to shape VUS Standards that are both clinically robust and operationally feasible.
From Paper to Practice
The success of the VUS Standards depends on adoption at the local level. To help facilities integrate the VUS Standards into everyday practice, the document includes:
- A Facility Self-Assessment Checklist (Appendix E)
- A Clinical Self-Assessment Checklist (Appendix F)
- Sonographer Technical Worksheet and Interpreting Physician Reporting Templates for each VUS exam (Appendix G)
These practical tools are designed to make implementation straightforward, regardless of the facility size or setting.
Advancing the Standardization of Vascular Ultrasound in Ontario
The VUS Standards are intended as best-practice and an important first step towards standardizing VUS care for patients in Ontario. Ontario Health is committed to advancing the standardization of VUS including exploring opportunities to collaborate with partner organizations to enhance vascular sonographer recruitment and training. Together we can enhance the quality and consistency of VUS care for all patients.
For more information, please feel welcome to email the Ontario Health Vascular Program at OH-CORH_Service@ontariohealth.ca.
