Randomized, Controlled Evaluation of Short- and Long-Term Benefits of Heart Failure Disease Management Within a Diverse Provider Network

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Abstract
Background— Several trials support the usefulness of disease management (DM) for improving clinical outcomes in heart failure (HF). Most of these studies are limited by small sample size; absence of concurrent, randomized controls; limited follow-up; restriction to urban academic centers; and low baseline use of effective medications. Methods and Results— We performed a prospective, randomized assessment of the effectiveness of HF DM delivered for 90 days across a diverse provider network in a heterogeneous population of 200 patients with high baseline use of approved HF pharmacotherapy. During a 90-day follow-up, patients randomized to DM experienced fewer hospitalizations for HF [primary end point, 0.55±0.15 per patient-year alive versus 1.14±0.22 per patient-year alive in control subjects; relative risk (RR), 0.48, P=0.027]. Intervention patients experienced reductions in hospital days related to a primary diagnosis of HF (4.3±0.4 versus 7.8±0.6 days hospitalized per patient-year; RR, 0.54; PP=0.043), and days in hospital per patient-year alive for cardiovascular cause (RR, 0.64; PConclusions— In a population with high background use of standard HF therapy, a DM intervention, uniformly delivered across varied clinical sites, produced significant short-term improvement in HF-related clinical outcomes. Longer-term benefit likely requires more active chronic intervention, even among patients who appear clinically stable.