CardioMEMS in a Busy Cardiology Practice: Less than Optimal Implementation of a Valuable Tool to Reduce Heart Failure...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Devices
• Health Economics

Background:

• Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a major cause of illness and death, leading to high healthcare costs.
• Remote pulmonary artery pressure monitoring with CardioMEMS can reduce heart failure hospital readmissions.
• The CHAMPION trial demonstrated the efficacy of CardioMEMS in NYHA Class III heart failure patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the real-world adoption rate of the CardioMEMS device in eligible heart failure patients.
• To identify barriers to CardioMEMS implantation in a clinical setting.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of electronic medical records for CHF patients.
• Inclusion criteria based on CHAMPION trial eligibility and ACC/AHA guideline-directed medical therapy.
• Analysis of CardioMEMS implantation rates among eligible patients.

Main Results:

• Out of 473 CHF patients, 85 were eligible for CardioMEMS implantation.
• Only 18 patients (21% of eligible, 4% of total cohort) received the device.
• A significant gap exists between device eligibility and actual implantation.

Conclusions:

• The adoption of CardioMEMS technology is poor despite its benefits.
• 79% of eligible patients did not receive the CardioMEMS device.
• Improved physician and patient education is necessary to increase CardioMEMS utilization for CHF management.