Home-visiting programs and multidisciplinary heart failure (MDS-HF) clinic interventions reduce all-cause mortality and hospital readmissions following heart failure, according to an article being published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Structured telephone support (STS) reduced HF-specific mortality and readmission. HF is the leading cause of hospitalization and health care costs in the United States and up to 25 percent of patients hospitalized with HF are readmitted within 30 days. Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published research to assess the efficacy of various transitional care interventions intended to reduce readmission and mortality rates for adults hospitalized with HF. These included home-visiting programs, STS, telemonitoring (remote monitoring of vitals, etc.), outpatient clinic-based, primarily educational (self-care training delivered before discharge), and others that did not fit into a broader category, such as individual peer support.

The researchers found that MDS-HF clinic interventions had the best evidence for reducing all-cause readmissions and mortality up to six months after hospitalization for HF. STS interventions proved effective for reducing HF-specific readmission and mortality.