Heart Failure
Heart Failure
Already accounting for more hospital admissions than any other diagnosis of people age 65 and older, hHeart failure is a major and growing public health problem. It affects 5.3 million people, mostly elderly, with 660,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the US. It is the underlying cause for 12 to 15 million office visits and 6.5 million hospital days each year.
As the elderly population grows in coming decades, the prevalence of heart failure is expected to increase substantially. Heart failure also carries an economic burden, costing the U.S. nearly $35 billion per year.
Readmission rates are high for heart failure patients signaling that current management practices are not sufficient. Evidence-based treatment will help reduce mortality, rehospitalization and cost for patients with heart failure.
One key care component that should be provided to all heart failure patients without contraindications is ACE-inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) at discharge for patients with systolic dysfunction. Primaris will be working with a select group of Missouri hospitals to improve heart care.
Primaris has free heart failure quality improvement tools available online.
Contact a Primaris regional representative for more information:Dana Lammert, MA |
Bob White, BA, PT |