American Heart Association Launches Initiative to Improve Care for Heart Failure Patients

The American Heart Association is launching a new initiative to improve in-hospital care for people with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction (HFmrEF). HFpEF and HFmrEF collectively account for up to 75% of all heart failure cases, yet clinical research and treatment evidence in these conditions is substantially limited compared with other types of heart failure.

The IMPLEMENT-EF quality improvement initiative will aim to address those challenges by mapping gaps in the patient journey to identify unmet needs and define ideal care models. The percentage of blood that leaves the left ventricle with each heartbeat is measured by ejection fraction (EF). A normal EF is between 55% and 70%. HFpEF means an individual has heart failure but EF remains 50% or higher - the heart muscle contracts, but the left ventricle does not relax as it should during ventricular filling. HFmrEF means EF is reduced to 41%-49%.

This new three-year initiative, supported by Bayer, will engage a network of multidisciplinary care teams - including pharmacists - to ensure people are receiving and taking the appropriate medications, raise provider awareness of best care practices and improve adherence to scientific evidence-based therapies using insights from Get With The Guidelines® - Heart Failure data. Findings will inform the American Heart Association's broader approach to patient care and help scale effective, replicable models nationwide.

To enhance clinical understanding and encourage best practices, the initiative will include a variety of professional educational offerings, such as a podcast series, eLearning module and live presentations. The Association will convene a Science Advisory Panel to guide development of these educational materials. The Association has recruited 40 hospitals to take part in the inaugural program. Teams in these facilities will have the opportunity to collaborate with other hospitals and with nationally recognized experts, access exclusive educational resources and share successful quality improvement models.

Treatment for HFpEF and HFmrEF requires earlier recognition and prompt initiation of scientific evidence-based therapies to improve health outcomes. As noted in research published in Nature Reviews Cardiology, these conditions represent significant clinical challenges that demand coordinated, evidence-based approaches to care delivery and management.