Impact of a Multidisciplinary Heart Failure Postdischarge Management Clinic on Medication Adherence

PurposeDisease management programs have been associated with improved adherence to heart failure (HF) medications. However, there remain limited data on the benefit of a comprehensive multidisciplinary HF postdischarge management (PDM) clinic that promptly follows HF-related hospitalization on evidence-based HF medication adherence.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an HF-PDM clinic on adherence to evidence-based HF medication therapy.MethodsIn this retrospective cohort study, we identified patients discharged from the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System between 2009 and 2012 with a primary diagnosis of HF. Data from patients who attended the HF-PDM clinic immediately following HF-related hospitalization between 2010 and 2012 were compared with those from historical controls, who did not attend the HF-PDM clinic, from 2009. The main outcome was adherence to evidence-based HF medications during the 90 days after discharge. Adherence was defined as the proportion of days covered at 90 days after discharge (PDC-90) of ≥0.80. The percentages of patients adherent to each medication were compared between the 2 groups using the χ2 test. A logistic regression model adjusted for potential confounding variables was constructed to evaluate the percentages of patients adherent to evidence-based HF medications.FindingsA total of 277 patients (144 clinic, 133 control) were included in the study. Both univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the clinic was associated with improved medication adherence to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, a twice-daily β-blocker, and aldosterone antagonists compared with controls. The most significant increases were in adherence to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, with mean PDC-90 values of 0.84 (control) versus 0.93 (clinic) (P = 0.008) and 90-day adherence rates of 69% (control) versus 87% (clinic) (P = 0.005).ImplicationsCare in the multidisciplinary HF-PDM clinic was associated with significant increases in 90-day adherence to evidence-based HF medications in patients who were recently discharged after an HF-related hospitalization.