title: Tracking key clinical data gets to the heart of program's goal: quality, cost effective care.
abstract: Using data to demonstrate program's strong selling points: better care at lower costs. Vanderbilt University Medical Center's heart failure program tracks patient clinical data, as well as data on hospitalization rates and satisfaction of the population as a whole. The program's success, as well as its wealth of data on patients' severity of illness, should provide an edge in negotiations with managed care companies.
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D016507:Cardiology Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003625:Data Collection; D005194:Family Practice; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008511:Medicine; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013038:Specialization; D013714:Tennessee