Evidence-Based Care for Your Patient With Acute Heart Failure

Course overview

Heart failure is defined as “a complex clinical syndrome that results from any structural or functional impairment of ventricular filling or ejection of blood.” About 5.7 million Americans carry the diagnosis of heart failure, and that’s expected to increase to more than 8 million people by 2030. Readmission to the hospital after a heart failure discharge is not uncommon. The national average readmission rate after a 30-day discharge from the hospital for heart failure was 21.9% from 2012-2015, according to the CMS Hospital Compare website. In addition, the website reports a 30-day mortality rate following discharge of 12.1% for the same timeframe. The risk of death increases immediately after hospitalization for acute heart failure, and a 2016 study found this had more to do with the patient’s risk profile than the hospitalization. The total cost of heart failure in 2012 was $30.7 billion, with medical costs pegged at $20.9 billion.