Nesiritide for outpatient treatment of heart failure

The cost of treating heart failure is an enormous health care burden in the United States, with approximately 5 million patients currently diagnosed with this condition. Nearly 500,000 new cases are identified each year, leading to over 1 million hospitalizations annually.1 For 2005, the estimated cost for heart-failure care has risen to nearly $28 billion. With over 2 million comorbid diagnoses yearly, heart failure represents the most frequent cause of hospitalization in the Medicare population. Readmissions following hospitalization for heart failure are common and can result in almost half of all patients being readmitted within six months.2 Notwithstanding these overwhelming statistics, most of the admissions, costs, and deaths associated with heart failure are attributable to a small population of patients with advanced disease. These patients display moderate to severe symptoms and experience frequent emergency department visits and hospitalizations, despite management with conventional therapies. Advanced heart-failure patients who suffer frequent decompensation are left with few other therapeutic options. Outpatient care becomes vital in the management of their chronic heart failure (CHF).