Resource use in decompensated heart failure by disease progression categories.
The purpose of this study was to quantify the total hospital resource use for decompensated heart failure according to disease progression categories. Clinical and cost information was obtained from an electronic data repository and chart review. During the 1-year period from June 2002 to June 2003, qualified patients were categorized based on disease progression as (1) new onset, (2) known heart failure, or (3) readmission. The primary outcome variables were total hospital resource use and resource use by services. Analysis of variance, Scheffé analysis for pairwise comparisons, and chi-square analysis were performed to determine differences among groups. Total hospitalization costs are similar whether it is a new diagnosis of heart failure, known diagnosis, or readmission. Among the 3 categories, 5 services contained statistically significant differences in costs (P<.05): echocardiography, electrophysiology, neurodiagnostic, nuclear cardiology, and pharmacy. Careful analysis of hospital resource use by services for heart failure patients provides opportunities for institutional cost containment.
Kane-Gill
Sandra L
SL
Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, PA 15261, USA. kanesl@upmc.edu
Seybert
Amy L
AL
Lazar
Jessica
J
Shatzer
Melanie B
MB
Saul
Melissa I
MI
Kirisci
Levent
L
Murali
Srinivas
S
D000368:Aged; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D022062:Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010414:Pennsylvania / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends
D002316:Cardiotonic Agents