Short Stay Unit vs Hospitalization in Acute Heart Failure — SSU-AHF  

Acute Heart Failure Clinical Trial

Official title: Using Short Stay Units Instead of Routine Admission to Improve Patient Centered Health Outcomes for AHF Patients

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The majority of the over one million annual AHF hospitalizations originate from the emergency department. Admitting and re-admitting lower risk AHF patients who don't need prolonged hospitalization may increase their risk for poor outcomes and decrease their quality of life: Safe alternatives to hospitalization from the ED are needed. We propose a strategy-of-care, short stay unit management of AHF (i.e. less than 24 hours), will lead to improved outcomes for lower risk AHF patients.

Clinical Trial Description

Nearly 85% of acute heart failure (AHF) patients who present to the emergency department (ED) with acute heart failure (AHF) are hospitalized. Once hospitalized, within 30 days post-discharge, 27% of patients are re-hospitalized or die. Attempts to improve outcomes with novel therapies have all failed. The evidence for existing AHF therapies are poor: No currently used AHF treatment is known to improve outcomes. ED treatment is largely the same today as 40 years ago. Hospitalizing patients who don't need it may contribute to adverse outcomes. Hospitalization is not benign; patients enter a vulnerable phase post-discharge, at increased risk for morbidity and mortality. Patients would prefer to be home, not hospitalized. Furthermore, hospitalization and re-hospitalization for AHF predominantly affects patients of lower socioeconomic status (SES). Avoiding hospitalization in patients who don't need it may improve outcomes and quality of life, while reducing costs.

Short stay unit (SSU: less than 24 hours) management of AHF is effective for lower risk patients. However, it's only been studied in small studies or retrospective analyses. In addition, some have considered the SSU 'cheating' for hospitals trying to avoid 30 day readmission penalties, since SSU or observation didn't count as an admission. However, this quality measure is now changing. A robust clinical effectiveness trial would demonstrate the effectiveness of this patient-centered strategy.

Using a multi-center, randomized controlled design, this clinical effectiveness trial will test whether Short Stay Unit AHF management for < 24 hours increases days-alive-and-out-of-hospital, Quality of Life assessment (QoL), caregiver burden, and costs compared to inpatient management. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Acute Heart Failure
• Heart Failure

• NCT number: NCT03302910
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Indiana University
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: December 6, 2017
• Completion date: July 22, 2021