Navigating between Scylla and Charybdis: challenges and strategies for implementing guideline-directed medical therapy in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction
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Updated: Oct 14, 2025

Lumped-Parameter and Finite Element Modeling of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction
Published on: February 13, 2021
Petar M Seferović1,2, Marija Polovina1,3, Christopher Adlbrecht4
1Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade University, Belgrade, Serbia.
Insights
Guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) improves outcomes for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Overcoming barriers like patient factors, side effects, and healthcare access is key to optimizing GDMT.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Pharmacology
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) significantly reduces mortality and hospitalization in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).
- Real-world data reveal suboptimal GDMT implementation, with many HFrEF patients not receiving optimized treatment regimens requiring dose titration.
- Barriers to GDMT include patient-related factors (comorbidities, age, adherence), treatment-related issues (intolerance, side effects), and healthcare system challenges (resource disparities, reimbursement, clinical inertia).
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and propose evidence-based solutions for improving the comprehensive uptake of GDMT in HFrEF.
- To discuss strategies for overcoming clinical inertia and enhancing GDMT implementation through professional education, patient empowerment, and multidisciplinary care.
- To highlight the role of novel medications and tailored approaches in advancing GDMT strategies.
Main Methods:
- Review of available evidence, practical experience, and expert consensus.
- Discussion of evolving strategies, novel medications, and patient profiling for GDMT optimization.
- Consideration of professional education, patient empowerment, multidisciplinary care, institutional accreditation, and modern technologies.
Main Results:
- Professional education, patient empowerment, and multidisciplinary care are crucial for overcoming clinical inertia and boosting GDMT prescription and adherence.
- Modern technologies can enhance professional and patient education and improve patient-provider communication.
- Novel drugs, particularly sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors, and tailored drug management represent evolving strategies for successful GDMT implementation.
Conclusions:
- Optimizing GDMT in HFrEF requires addressing multifaceted barriers through innovative strategies and enhanced care models.
- A comprehensive approach involving healthcare professionals, patients, and leveraging new technologies is essential for maximizing GDMT benefits.
- The integration of novel pharmacotherapies and personalized treatment plans holds significant promise for improving HFrEF management.
Abstract:
Guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) has the potential to reduce the risks of mortality and hospitalisation in patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, real-world data indicate that many patients with HFrEF do not receive optimised GDMT, which involves several different medications, many of which require up-titration to target doses. There are many challenges to implementing GDMT, the most important being patient-related factors (comorbidities, advanced age, frailty, cognitive impairment, poor adherence, low socioeconomic status), treatment-related factors (intolerance, side-effects) and healthcare-related factors that influence availability and accessibility of HF care. Accordingly, international disparities in resources for HF management and limited public reimbursement of GDMT, coupled with clinical inertia for treatment intensification combine to hinder efforts to provide GDMT. In this review paper, authors aim to provide solutions based on available evidence, practical experience, and expert consensus on how to utilise evolving strategies, novel medications, and patient profiling to allow the more comprehensive uptake of GDMT. Authors discuss professional education, motivation, and training, as well as patient empowerment for self-care as important tools to overcome clinical inertia and boost GDMT implementation. We provide evidence on how multidisciplinary care and institutional accreditation can be successfully used to increase prescription rates and adherence to GDMT. We consider the role of modern technologies in advancing professional and patient education and facilitating patient-provider communication. Finally, authors emphasise the role of novel drugs (especially sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors), and a tailored approach to drug management as evolving strategies for the more successful implementation of GDMT.
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