Heart Failure Care

Care for heart failure patients includes evaluating heart function and ensuring that patients are receiving the correct medications at discharge. Also important is giving detailed instructions about care after discharge from the hospital and how to prevent relapse and readmission. Similar to heart attack care, it also includes smoking-cessation counseling for smokers.

Heart Failure Care Composite

What does this mean?

We measure the percent of patients eligible for each of the care elements who actually received the care element. The composite score is the average over 12 months. We have improved our care over the last four years, but not enough. As in heart attack care, our biggest challenge comes from failure to fully document the reasons why some patients may not receive a particular medication (e.g., due to medication allergy). Although the appropriate care is delivered, the documentation is incomplete. Our goal is to achieve 100% compliance.

What are we doing to improve?

Through our system collaborative work groups, we have shared best practices. We are currently implementing electronic health record solutions to ensure complete documentation consistently.

Additional Information

Additional reports and data can be found on the CMS Hospital Compare site at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.