A study conducted by UCLA found that a heart failure therapy program improved adherence to national guidelines for heart failure patients in outpatient settings, according to a news release by the UCLA Health System.
The program, called the Registry to Improve the Use of Evidence-Based Heart Failure Therapies in the Outpatient Setting, applied interventions to help ensure that patients received seven nationally recommended standard-of-care treatments developed by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. The program also provided intervention strategies, such as clinical decision support tools, structured improvement strategies and medical-chart audits with feedback, and a tool kit designed to help clinicians make patient care decisions.
For the study, the IMPROVE HF program was implemented at 167 cardiology practice clinics and included 34,810 patients diagnosed with a previous heart attack, weakening left heart ventricle function or chronic heart failure.
Medical chart reviews analyzed at baseline, before adopting the program, and at several points over two years showed significant improvement in the use of five of the seven nationally recommended treatments. One improvement shown was the use of beta-blocker medication, which increased from 86 percent at baseline to 92.2 percent after the interventions. Also, the use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator devices increased from 50.1 percent to 77.5 percent.
Read UCLA Health System's news release about its study of the IMPROVE HF program.
Read other coverage about healthcare quality:
- AHRQ to Add Hospital Quality Ratings Based on Health Insurance Type
- Minnesota Hospitals Still Struggle with Infection Control
- New York Cayuga Medical Center to Adopt Clinical Integration Programs
The program, called the Registry to Improve the Use of Evidence-Based Heart Failure Therapies in the Outpatient Setting, applied interventions to help ensure that patients received seven nationally recommended standard-of-care treatments developed by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. The program also provided intervention strategies, such as clinical decision support tools, structured improvement strategies and medical-chart audits with feedback, and a tool kit designed to help clinicians make patient care decisions.
For the study, the IMPROVE HF program was implemented at 167 cardiology practice clinics and included 34,810 patients diagnosed with a previous heart attack, weakening left heart ventricle function or chronic heart failure.
Medical chart reviews analyzed at baseline, before adopting the program, and at several points over two years showed significant improvement in the use of five of the seven nationally recommended treatments. One improvement shown was the use of beta-blocker medication, which increased from 86 percent at baseline to 92.2 percent after the interventions. Also, the use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator devices increased from 50.1 percent to 77.5 percent.
Read UCLA Health System's news release about its study of the IMPROVE HF program.
Read other coverage about healthcare quality:
- AHRQ to Add Hospital Quality Ratings Based on Health Insurance Type
- Minnesota Hospitals Still Struggle with Infection Control
- New York Cayuga Medical Center to Adopt Clinical Integration Programs