Open AccessBaseline Quality Indicator Rates from the National Heart Failure Project: A HCFA Initiative to Improve the Care of Medicare Beneficiaries with Heart Failure
Author(s) -
Masoudi Frederick A.,
Ralston Debra L.,
Wolfe Pam,
Havernek Edward P.,
Shah Vimal P.,
Krumholz Harlan M.,
Ordin Diana L.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
congestive heart failure
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1751-7133
pISSN - 1527-5299
DOI - 10.1111/j.1527-5299.2001.990870.x
Subject(s) - medicine , heart failure , baseline (sea) , myocardial infarction , medical emergency , medicaid , commission , emergency medicine , health care , intensive care medicine , finance , business , cardiology , economic growth , oceanography , economics , geology
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 1 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 2 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.