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Real or Illusory Gains

Gregg C. Fonarow, MD; Eric D. Peterson, MD, MPH

JAMA. 2009;302(7):792-794.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Heart failure is one of the most deadly and costly conditions in the United States.¹ Among Medicare beneficiaries, heart failure is the most frequent cause of hospitalization and death, with 1-year readmission and mortality rates of 65% and 35%, respectively.² While a number of therapies and interventions have been demonstrated to improve heart failure outcomes,¹ studies have consistently shown gaps, variations, and disparities in the application of these therapies in routine clinical practice.³

In 1996, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) first implemented a program to track and improve the quality of heart failure care in hospitals. The CMS subsequently aligned with The Joint Commission to create a national standardized "core" set of 4 heart failure performance metrics: measuring left ventricular function; using angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction; providing complete heart failure . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California (Dr Fonarow); Duke Clinical Research Institute and Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina (Dr Peterson).

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