Ischaemic symptoms, quality of care and mortality during myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE: To study in myocardial infarction (MI) whether documentation of ischaemic symptoms is associated with quality of care and outcomes, and to compare patient reports of ischaemic symptoms during interviews with chart documentation. DESIGN: Observational acute MI study from 2003 to 2004 (Prospective Registry Evaluating Myocardial Infarction: Event and Recovery). SETTING: 19 diverse US hospitals. PATIENTS: 2094 consecutive patients with MI (10 911 patients screened; 3953 patients were eligible and enrolled) with both positive cardiac enzymes and other evidence of infarction (eg, symptoms, electrocardiographic changes). Transferred patients and those with confounding non-cardiac comorbidity were not included (n = 1859). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Quality of care indicators and adjusted in-hospital survival. RESULTS: The records of 10% of all patients with MI (217/2094) contained no documented ischaemic symptoms at presentation. Patients without documented symptoms were less likely (p<0.05) to receive aspirin (89% vs 96%) or beta-blockers (77% vs 90%) within 24 hours, reperfusion therapy for ST-elevation MI (7% vs 58%) or to survive their hospitalisation (adjusted odds ratio = 3.2, 95% CI 1.8 to 5.8). Survivors without documented symptoms were also less likely (p<0.05) to be discharged with aspirin (87% vs 93%), beta-blockers (81% vs 91%), ACE/ARB (67% vs 80%), or smoking cessation counselling (46% vs 66%). In the subset of 1356 (65%) interviewed patients, most of those without documented ischaemic symptoms (75%) reported presenting symptoms consistent with ischaemia. CONCLUSIONS: Failure to document patients' presenting MI symptoms is associated with poorer quality of care from admission to discharge, and higher in-hospital mortality. Symptom recognition may represent an important opportunity to improve the quality of MI care.

Baseline quality indicator rates from the National Heart Failure Project: a HCFA initiative to improve the care of medicare beneficiaries with heart failure.

This column is the third in a series reporting on Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) initiatives to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure. The first paper outlined the history of HCFA quality improvement projects and current initiatives to improve care in six priority areas: heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, stroke, pneumonia, diabetes, and breast cancer. The second reported in more detail the structure of the national inpatient fee-for-service heart failure initiative, known as the National Heart Failure project. It described the development of the quality indicators, the sampling strategy for selecting charts to be reviewed, and the types of local efforts spurred by the project through the activities of each state's HCFA contractor peer review organization. This article discusses baseline quality indicator rates from the National Heart Failure project. (c)2001 by CHF, Inc.

Lessons learned from the national heart failure project: a center for medicare and medicaid services initiative to improve the care of medicare beneficiaries with heart failure.

This column is the seventh in a series reporting on the efforts of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), formerly known as the Health Care Financing Administration, to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure. In previous columns we have described the overall structure of Medicare quality improvement efforts, detailed the structure of the national inpatient fee-for-service program known as the National Heart Failure project, and discussed the baseline quality indicator rates for the project, which are focused on rates of ejection fraction documentation and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor prescription. In more recent columns, we reported on quality improvement projects from several participating hospitals, and on a pilot project exploring quality improvement efforts for heart failure based in physicians' offices. This column will focus on ways in which systematic examination of data, such as those from the National Heart Failure project, might shape future quality improvement and research efforts. The National Heart Failure project's quality indicator data are collected primarily to guide and evaluate the efforts of the CMS contractor peer-review organizations to facilitate quality improvement efforts in hospitals throughout the United States. (c)2001 CHF, Inc.

Medicare initiatives to improve heart failure care: an introduction.

Purchasers of health care, patients, physicians, and other health care professionals are increasingly seeking to evaluate quality of health care. Scattered reports have suggested that there is currently marked variation in evaluation and treatment of heart failure and substantial gaps between guideline recommendations and care delivered to heart failure patients. Heart failure is the most common discharge diagnosis for Medicare beneficiaries and yet, until recently, relatively little national information was available to describe the quality of care and to identify opportunities to improve practice. To address the need to evaluate care of patients with heart failure and support national, state, and local efforts to improve care and outcomes, the Health Care Financing Administration has initiated three programs that stretch across much of the continuum of care: the National Heart Failure Quality Improvement Project, focusing on inpatient care; the Heart Failure Practice Improvement Effort (HF PIE), a pilot outpatient effort in 11 states; and the 2001 requirement for Medicare+Choice Organizations to initiate quality improvement efforts for their heart failure patients. This paper is the first in a series that will provide information about these programs. We hope that this series will stimulate discussion on how clinicians can join these national efforts to improve the care and outcomes of patients with heart failure. (c)2000 by CHF, Inc.

The National Heart Failure Project: a health care financing administration initiative to improve the care of Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure.

This is the second in a series describing Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) initiatives to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure. The first article outlined the history of HCFA quality-improvement projects and current initiatives to improve care in six priority areas: heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, stroke, pneumonia, diabetes, and breast cancer. This article details the objectives and design of the Medicare National Heart Failure Quality Improvement Project (NHF), which has as its goal the improvement of inpatient heart failure care. (c)2000 by CHF, Inc.

Echocardiography in patients with suspected endocarditis: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

PURPOSE: We sought to determine the appropriate use of echocardiography for patients with suspected endocarditis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We constructed a decision tree and Markov model using published data to simulate the outcomes and costs of care for patients with suspected endocarditis. RESULTS: Transesophageal imaging was optimal for patients who had a prior probability of endocarditis that is observed commonly in clinical practice (4% to 60%). In our base-case analysis (a 45-year-old man with a prior probability of endocarditis of 20%), use of transesophageal imaging improved quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALYs) by 9 days and reduced costs by $18 per person compared with the use of transthoracic echocardiography. Sequential test strategies that reserved the use of transesophageal echocardiography for patients who had an inadequate transthoracic study provided similar QALYs compared with the use of transesophageal echocardiography alone, but cost $230 to $250 more. For patients with prior probabilities of endocarditis greater than 60%, the optimal strategy is to treat for endocarditis without reliance on echocardiography for diagnosis. Patients with a prior probability of less than 2% should receive treatment for bacteremia without imaging. Transthoracic imaging was optimal for only a narrow range of prior probabilities (2% or 3%) of endocarditis. CONCLUSION: The appropriate use of echocardiography depends on the prior probability of endocarditis. For patients whose prior probability of endocarditis is 4% to 60%, initial use of transesophageal echocardiography provides the greatest quality-adjusted survival at a cost that is within the range for commonly accepted health interventions.

The medical management of atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation is an extremely common arrhythmia that is associated with significant sequelae. Certain aspects of therapy, such as anticoagulation, are studied in well-constructed randomized trials. Other therapy, such as the maintenance of sinus rhythm with antiarrhythmic agents, is supported by limited evidence. This article reviews the epidemiology and medical treatment of this arrhythmia, addressing anticoagulation, ventricular rate control, and restoration and maintenance of sinus rhythm. Randomized trials in progress that attempt to answer important questions in the management of atrial fibrillation are also discussed.

The use of dynamic magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate orthotopic continent urinary diversion.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a dynamic magnetic resonance (MR) examination in patients after radical cystoprostatectomy with a neobladder. METHODS: All 12 subjects were studied with the injection of gadolinium diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) and showed normal renal enhancement patterns and upper urinary tracts, except 1 patient who had mild right hydronephrosis. All neobladders were also visualized with gadolinium and 9 of 11 patients were able to void on command. There was close agreement in all cases with the MR findings and other imaging studies. RESULTS: A static and dynamic Gd-DTPA contrast medium MR did image the entire urinary system, similar to a computed tomographic scan or intravenous urogram. Renal function data, similar to a renal radioisotope scan, was obtained from the Gd-DTPA scans. A dynamic voiding study provided visualization of the lower genitourinary tract similar to a conventional voiding cystourethrogram. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that this single MR technique may provide information similar to that obtained from multiple standard imaging studies in the postoperative assessment of the radical cystectomy patient with a neobladder. It may be especially helpful in the presence of azotemia or contrast allergy.

Meal-stimulated canine jejunal ionic absorption. Influence of mucosal neural blockade.

The oral ingestion of a meal or the delivery of nutrients directly to the stomach or duodenum stimulates water and ion absorption from the proximal jejunal lumen. To further investigate this phenomenon, this study tested two hypotheses: (1) direct jejunal nutrient delivery stimulates jejunal absorption, and (2) the signal for jejunal absorption requires intact enteric neurotransmission and will therefore be altered by mucosal neural blockade with the local anesthetic bupivacaine. Intestinal absorption studies (N = 52) were performed on eight dogs with 25-cm jejunal Thiry-Vella fistulas (TVF) and feeding jejunostomies. Luminal perfusion with [14C]PEG was used to calculate TVF absorption of H2O, Na+, and Cl-. Six groups were randomly studied over 4 hr. Each group incorporated a basal hour, a TVF or jejunostomy treatment hour, and an oral (groups 1 and 3) or a jejunal (groups 4 and 6) meal stimulus. The oral and jejunal meals were isocaloric and of identical composition. Groups 1-3 had saline (as a control) or 0.75% bupivacaine applied to the lumen of the TVF. Groups 5 and 6 had 0.75% bupivacaine application to the feeding jejunostomy. Both the oral and the jejunal meal stimuli resulted in a significant proabsorptive response in the TVF. TVF bupivacaine reduced basal absorption but did not diminish the meal-induced proabsorptive response. Treatment of the jejunostomy with bupivacaine caused no change in basal or postmeal absorption in the TVF.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)