The American College of Cardiology has updated care guidelines for patients hospitalized with heart failure, according to an Aug. 8 report published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The 2024 Expert Consensus Decision Pathway replaces 2019 guidelines of the same name and are to be used in conjunction with 2022 guidelines from the ACC, the American Heart Association and the Heart Failure Society of America.
The updates aim to provide clarity to providers on how to address heart failure patients' long-term care after hospitalization.
"Characteristics of patients hospitalized for heart failure often differ from populations enrolled in outpatient trials," the report's authors wrote regarding the focus of the guidelines. "Strategies for initiation of guideline-directed medical therapy may need to be adapted in these patients."