Achievement of Guideline-Concordant Care and In-Hospital Outcomes in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease in Teaching and Nonteaching Hospitals

BACKGROUND: Secondary prevention therapies improve longitudinal outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease. Previous studies showed that teaching hospitals (THs) more consistently use evidence-based secondary prevention therapies than non-THs (NTHs). It is unclear whether these differences persist after initiation of a national quality improvement system. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analyzed 270902 patients across 361 hospitals in the Get With The Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease program from June 2000 to September 2009. The primary outcome was guideline-concordant care, defined as compliance with all Get With The Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease quality measures: (1) aspirin within 24 hours, (2) aspirin at discharge, (3) angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blockers for systolic dysfunction, (4) β-blockers at discharge, (5) lipid therapy if low-density lipoprotein >100 mg/dL, and (6) smoking cessation. We used multivariate modeling to compare the relationship between TH and NTH status on quality measures, in-hospital mortality, and length of stay. Guideline-concordant care was higher at THs (78.4% versus 73.3%; P4 days; confidence interval, 0.58-0.94) from 2000 to 2009. Lower in-hospital mortality was observed at THs (3.7% versus 4.4% at NTHs; P<0.01), but this was not significant after adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to guideline-recommended therapies increased over time with participation in the Get With The Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease program, regardless of the teaching status. Guideline-concordant care over the full decade was higher in THs; however, NTHs demonstrated greater incremental improvement over time.