Transforming Heart Failure Management: A Path to Better Outcomes and Aligned Care Delivery - 2025 Quality Summit Presentation (Non-CE)-Transforming Heart Failure Management: A Path to Better Outcomes and Aligned Care Delivery

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The UnityPoint Health team presented their comprehensive approach to transforming heart failure management across their integrated healthcare system serving Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Recognizing heart failure as a leading cause of morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs, they embarked on a multi-phase project beginning in 2022 to standardize care, improve outcomes, and align quality delivery. Their multidisciplinary clinical effectiveness team identified critical challenges: high mortality, inconsistent heart failure definitions, underutilization of guideline-directed medical therapies (GDMT), outdated EMR workflows, and disjointed care between hospitals and outpatient clinics.<br /><br />Key initiatives included establishing uniform heart failure definitions and classifications, aligning diagnostic criteria, and integrating guideline-recommended treatments into EMR order sets. The focus on the four pillars of GDMT (SGLT2 inhibitors, ARNIs, beta blockers, MRAs) led to a significant increase in their use, reducing mortality risk substantially. Three focused subgroups addressed treatment guidelines, care coordination, and documentation/education.<br /><br />Care coordination efforts emphasized discharge planning, timely follow-up within 3-7 days, medication access, and patient education using the "WATCH" framework (Weigh daily, Activity, take medications, Call provider, Heart healthy diet). The team enhanced clinician education via forums, standardized materials, and EMR decision support tools.<br /><br />Outcome tracking through a real-time dashboard showed marked improvements: in-hospital mortality dropped from an observed-to-expected ratio of 1.83 to 1.07, and discharge on zero GDMT medications decreased from 22.3% to 12.7%. Local market initiatives included hiring a heart failure coordinator for patient education, coordinating care transitions, and offering cardiac rehab and community cooking classes to reinforce lifestyle changes.<br /><br />The team underscored the necessity of multidisciplinary engagement, standardization, continuous education, and robust data monitoring to sustain improvements in heart failure care and patient outcomes.

Keywords

public reporting

cardiovascular healthcare

National Cardiovascular Data Registry

healthcare quality measurement

transparency

risk aversion

clinical registries

hospital rankings

patient informed decisions

California TAVR reporting

heart failure management

UnityPoint Health

guideline-directed medical therapies

GDMT

EMR integration

care coordination

multidisciplinary clinical team

mortality reduction

patient education

outcome tracking