Key result
Primary care heart function clinics deliver comparable quality HF care to tertiary centers.
Why the study?
Heart function clinics are primarily integrated into tertiary care, with few existing in primary care, and their comparative roles and alignment with quality indicators are not well characterized.
How do primary care heart function clinics compare to tertiary care heart function clinics regarding referral patterns, patient populations, outcomes, and provision of care?
Observational
Yes
How do primary care heart function clinics compare to tertiary care heart function clinics regarding referral patterns, patient populations, outcomes, and provision of care?
Primary care heart function clinics can achieve quality patient care comparable to tertiary care clinics, supporting the integration of specialized community heart failure centers in a spoke-hub-node model.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Both primary and tertiary HFCs deliver quality care to complex patients; supports community models but leaves prospective validation of spoke-hub-node integration open.
Heart function clinics (HFCs) are a cornerstone of heart failure management, yet they remain largely integrated into tertiary care environments, with few HFCs existing in the primary care community. This study examined the roles of HFCs in each setting by exploring referral patterns, the patient populations, outcomes, provision of care, and how each clinic aligned with the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Heart Failure national quality indicators. The clinical characteristics of patients at both sites revealed a high level of disease comorbidity and complexity, although referral and discharge patterns differed markedly. Both sites reasonably achieved quality patient care. There are unique roles for HFCs in each setting, which supports the further creation of specialized heart failure centres within the community in alignment with the proposed spoke-hub-node integrated care model.
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Geukers et al. (2023) conducted an observational in Heart failure. Primary care Heart Function Clinic vs. Tertiary care Heart Function Clinic was evaluated on Referral patterns, patient populations, outcomes, provision of care, and alignment with quality indicators. Primary care and tertiary care Heart Function Clinics both achieved quality patient care for heart failure patients despite differing referral and discharge patterns.
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