Policy-Driven Post-Acute Care Program Lowers Mortality Rate and Medical Expenditures After Hospitalization for Acute Heart Failure: A Nationwide Propensity Score-Matched Study

Objective: The beneficial effects of multidisciplinary disease management programs have been demonstrated. The present study investigated the effects of a policy-driven, health insurance-reimbursed, heart failure (HF) post-acute care (PAC) program on mortality, health care service utilization, and readmission expenses for patients following hospitalization for HF.

Design: This was a retrospective propensity score-matched cohort study using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database.

Setting and participants: In total, 4346 patients (2173 receiving HF-PAC and 2173 controls) with left ventricular ejection fraction of ≤40% who were discharged following hospitalization for HF were included for analysis.

Methods: All patients were followed up after discharge for all-cause mortality, emergency visits within 30 days, and length of stay and medical expenses for readmission within 180 days after discharge.

Results: After propensity score matching, baseline characteristics of the HF-PAC and control groups were similar. During a mean follow-up period of 1.59 ± 0.92 years, according to the Cox multivariable analysis, HF-PAC reduced mortality by 48% compared with the control group, independent of traditional risk factors (hazard ratio = 0.520, 95% CI = 0.452-0.597, P < .001). Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that HF-PAC was associated with a higher cumulative survival rate (log-rank = 96.43, P < .001). HF-PAC also decreased the frequency of emergency visits after discharge by 23% in the 30 days post discharge and decreased length of stay and medical expenses related to readmission by 61% and 63%, respectively, in the 180 days post discharge (all P < .001).

Conclusions and implications: HF-PAC reduces short-term all-cause emergency visits, length of stay, and medical expenses for all-cause readmission and all-cause mortality in patients discharged following hospitalization for HF. Our findings suggest that PAC should include care continuity, optimal adaptation of transitional care components, and HF cardiologist engagement with multidisciplinary coordination.