Why Should You Act?

• The majority of heart failure (HF) patients are managed by hospitalists¹

• Heart Failure is the most common diagnosis in hospitalized patients older than 65 and one-third of patients hospitalized for HF are readmitted to the hospital within 3 months^{2, 3}. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment of HF, over one million patients are hospitalized every year.³
• The quality of care for hospitalized HF patients differs significantly by hospitals and physicians and adherence to evidence-based guidelines is very low. Studies have shown that admissions for HF can be prevented with multidisciplinary disease management strategies^{1, 2, 3}.

¹Quality of Care for Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure
Assessing the Impact of Hospitalists Peter K. Lindenauer, MD, MSc; Rona Chehabeddine, MPH; Penelope Pekow, PhD; Janice Fitzgerald, MS, RN; Evan M. Benjamin, MD Arch Intern Med. 2002;162:1251-1256

²Gwadry-Sridhar FH, Flintoft V, Lee DS, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing readmission rates and mortality rates in patients with heart failure. Arch Intern Med 2004;164:2315-20.

³Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics--2006 Update. A Report From the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Circulation. 2006 Jan 11; [PubMed]