Modeling of in-hospital treatment outcomes for elderly patients with heart failure: Care pathway versus usual care

ObjectivesIn this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of care pathways on heart failure treatment outcomes by adjusting for possible risk factors in elderly patients.Subjects and methodsData were collected from 14 Italian hospitals. The overall sample consisted of 332 geriatric heart failure patients (174 receiving care pathway, 158 usual care) older than 75 years. We performed two-level mixed-effects logistic regression model to determine the effect of care pathways on the most important outcomes of heart failure treatment for elderly patients.ResultsThe results showed that care pathways have a significant positive effect on mortality rate (OR = 0.157, 95%CI [0.056–0.437]) and unscheduled readmission rate (OR = 0.217, 95%CI [0.084–0.563]).ConclusionThis shows that through using care pathways for elderly heart failure patients, reduced mortality and readmission rates can be achieved without increasing hospitalization costs.