title: Financial aspects of heart failure programs of care.
abstract: As suggested by studies that have examined the economic burden imposed by heart failure and, more specifically where the greatest expenditure occurs, the key to cost-effectively minimising the impact of a sustained heart failure epidemic is to minimise recurrent hospital use--even at the expense of increasing levels of community-based care and prescribed pharmacotherapy. This paper examines the potential cost-benefits of applying specialist heart failure programs of care and the range of financial issues that need to be considered when establishing a formal heart failure service.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. simon.stewart@unisa.edu.au
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans