A hospital's effort to lower the readmission of patients with heart failure (help-hf): a pilot study

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate if a pharmacist-lead education intervention program would aid in the decrease of hospital re-admissions in heart failure patients at an urban community teaching hospital.

Methods: Patients were randomized into an intervention and control group. Those included in study were admitted to Atlanta Medical Center from August 1, 2011 to January 30, 2012 with a primary or secondary diagnosis of heart-failure as identified by the daily Evidenced Based Medicine report. The control group received standard of care. The intervention included one-on-one medicaton/disease management discharge counseling from a pharmacist, patients were given individualized information regarding their disease state, patients were called on days 14 and 28 post discharge.

Results: 60 patients (control n=38, intervention n= 22) were included in the study. The 30 day readmission rates for the control group and intervention group was 21% and 9.5%, respectively. The baseline characteristics were similar between the groups which included: ejection fraction, length of hospital stay, and co-morbidities.

Conclusion: The patients in the intervention group 30 day readmission rates were approximately 50% less than the patients in the control group. This suggests that a pharmacist supported intervention program may aid in decreasing 30 day readmissions in patients with heart failure.