Original Article
Krista D Dewart, Louise A Jens
Abstract
Background: Many heart failure (HF) hospital admissions are avoidable with appropriate surveillance and self-care support; however, HF clinics and clinicians vary in how frequently they see a patient. Objective: To assess the impact of the frequency of HF clinic visits on hospital admission rates. Methods: Data from a retrospective cohort of 110 patients enrolled in an HF clinic were reviewed. Demographic, clinical and provider variables were entered into regression models to determine predictors of recall visits and hospital admissions. Results: HF clinic visit recall frequency was not predictive of hospitalization rates in this particular cohort. The main predictor of all-cause (35.8%; P=0.02), HF (26%; P=0.03) and cardiovascular (29.5%; P=0.03) hospital admissions was the Seattle Heart Failure Model score. Conclusions: The frequency of HF clinic visits had no impact on future hospital admissions in this particular cohort of patients with HF. Simplified algorithms or scores to assist clinicians in deciding on the frequency of recall visits are needed.