Trends in Length of Stay and Short-term Outcomes Among Medicare Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure, 1993-2006

Abstract

During the last decade, the most prominent change in the acute care of patients with heart failure (HF) was a decreasing length of stay in hospitals.^1-6 Advances in the care of patients with HF, including drugs such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, β-blockers or aldosterone antagonists, and cardiac device–related therapies such as implantable defibrillators or resynchronization, accrue benefits to patients after months or years of therapy. No parallel progress in the acute drug or procedural treatment of patients with HF has occurred.