title: The heart failure clinic: a consensus statement of the Heart Failure Society of America.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Outpatient care accounts for a significant proportion of total heart failure (HF) expenditures. This observation, plus an expanding list of treatment options, has led to the development of the disease-specific HF clinic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The goals of the HF clinic are to reduce mortality and rehospitalization rates and improve quality of life for patients with HF through individualized patient care. A variety of staffing configurations can serve to meet these goals. Successful HF clinics require an ongoing commitment of resources, the application of established clinical practice guidelines, an appropriate infrastructure, and a culture of quality assessment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This consensus statement will identify the components of HF clinics, focusing on systems and procedures most likely to contribute to the consistent application of guidelines and, consequently, optimal patient care. The domains addressed are: disease management, functional assessment, quality of life assessment, medical therapy and drug evaluation, device evaluation, nutritional assessment, follow-up, advance planning, communication, provider education, and quality assessment.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA. hauptmpj@slu.edu
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Hauptman
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Heidenreich
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cummings
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Dunlap
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gregory
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: O'connor
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Pezzella
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Philbin
mesh_terms: D019468:Disease Management; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States