Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 15, 2025

Cutoff Value of Phase Angle by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis at Admission as a Prognostic Factor in Patients with Acute Heart Failure
05:15

Cutoff Value of Phase Angle by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis at Admission as a Prognostic Factor in Patients with Acute Heart Failure

Published on: June 10, 2025

104

Examining the Burden of Potentially Avoidable Heart Failure Hospitalizations

Marya D Zilberberg1, Brian H Nathanson2, Kate Sulham3

  • 1EviMed Research Group, LLC, Goshen, MA, USA.

Clinicoeconomics and Outcomes Research : CEOR
|October 5, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Nearly half of short-stay heart failure hospitalizations are low-severity and may be avoidable, potentially saving significant costs. These patients, primarily admitted for fluid management, demonstrate lower mortality and readmission rates.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Health Services Research
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Annual US heart failure hospitalizations exceed 1 million, with two-thirds for diuresis alone.
  • A significant portion of these hospitalizations may be preventable.
  • This study focuses on a specific cohort: low-severity, short-stay (<= 4 days) patients admitted for heart failure (CHF).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize the population of low-severity, short-stay heart failure patients.
  • To compare the baseline characteristics, care processes, and outcomes of low-severity heart failure (CHF-L) patients against high-severity (CHF-H) patients.
  • To assess the potential for cost savings by avoiding unnecessary admissions.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective cohort study utilizing the Premier Healthcare Database from 2016-2021.
  • Heart failure (CHF) defined using an administrative code algorithm.
  • Low-severity (CHF-L) and high-severity (CHF-H) classifications based on clinical indicators like cardiogenic shock, need for respiratory/circulatory support, and Charlson comorbidity index.

Main Results:

  • Out of 301,672 short-stay CHF patients, 44.8% were classified as CHF-L.
  • CHF-L patients were younger, more commonly female, and had lower rates of hospital mortality (0.2% vs 1.5%) and 30-day readmissions (8.1% vs 10.5%) compared to CHF-H.
  • Anticoagulation was the most common non-diuretic IV therapy in both groups, with higher prevalence in CHF-H (33.3% vs 23.8%).

Conclusions:

  • Approximately half of short-stay heart failure admissions are low-severity (CHF-L), primarily for fluid management.
  • Avoiding these CHF-L admissions could lead to substantial healthcare cost savings.
  • Further research into strategies for preventing these specific admissions is warranted.
Abstract

Keywords:
congestive heart failurecostsepidemiologyhospitaloutcomes

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