Open AccessCost‐effective management of heart failure
Author(s) -
Parmley William W.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960190319
Subject(s) - medicine , heart failure , intensive care medicine , angiotensin converting enzyme , emergency medicine , medical emergency , blood pressure
Heart failure affects more than 2 million Americans, and about 400,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. The direct economic cost is over $10 billion/year. About 75% of this cost is spent on hospitalization, and almost 20% on nursing home care. Drugs such as angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors reduce mortality and hospitalization and are thus very cost effective in the management of heart failure. Cost‐effective strategies should focus on keeping patients out of the hospital. Additional savings can be obtained by more appropriate utilization of tests.