A new measure set to evaluate heart failure (HF) care in the inpatient and outpatient settings was released Nov. 2 and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Developed by the ACC and the American Heart Association, the measure set is in accordance with the 2017 ACC/AHA/HFSA heart failure guideline update.

Paul A. Heidenreich, MD, MS, FACC, chair of the writing committee, et al., updated the 2011 HF performance measure set, and developed "a comprehensive heart failure measure set" that includes 13 performance measures, 4 quality measures, 1 structural measure and 2 rehabilitation performance measures.

Of note, a new safety measure (laboratory monitoring for patients treated with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists) is paired with a new treatment measure (mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in patients with heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction). There is also a new performance measure for cardiac resynchronization therapy, and two new performance measures address dose of HF medications.

Heidenreich et al., note that several HF performance measures are appropriate for public reporting or pay-for-performance programs, while additional quality measures are not ready for public reporting or pay for performance, but may be useful for local quality improvement efforts.

"To reflect the increasing importance of patient-reported outcome measures, two patient-reported outcomes quality measures were added that use HF patient-reported outcomes questionnaires currently accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration," explains Heidenreich.

The writing committee notes that the effective implementation of this measure set by clinicians, care teams and health systems will lead to significant improvements in beneficial care of adult patients with heart failure.

The document was developed in collaboration with the Heart Failure Society of America and was endorsed by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Heart Rhythm Society, and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.

Clinical Topics: Arrhythmias and Clinical EP, Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies, Implantable Devices, Acute Heart Failure

Keywords: Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy, Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists, Reimbursement, Incentive, Outpatients, Inpatients, Quality Improvement, Pharmacists, Stroke Volume, Quality Indicators, Health Care, United States Food and Drug Administration, Ventricular Function, Left, Heart Failure, Cardiology

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