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VIDEO: Strategies to prevent HF rehospitalization must transcend focus on 30-day readmission rates
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ORLANDO, Fla. — While age-adjusted HF hospitalization has declined, and new therapies are contributing to further progress, HF rehospitalization remains a major concern, Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, says in this video exclusive.
Medicare penalties have forced an emphasis on lowering 30-day readmission rates, but clinicians need to broaden their focus to include primary prevention of HF and tailoring therapies to each patient, among other factors, Fonarow said.
The Heart Failure Society of America Scientific Assembly has featured a number of presentations on HF hospitalization and rehospitalization, including a poster from Fonarow and a colleague on trends in age-adjusted HF hospitalizations in the United States from 2002 to 2013.
“Fortunately, we have a number of recent therapeutic advances that can help us through this and we look forward as those therapies are better applied in clinical practice to see further improvement and further reductions in the very expensive HF hospitalizations nationwide,” Fonarow said.