In effort to improve the care of patients with heart failure, a new clinic launched in October, called the Nebraska Medicine Heart Failure Optimize Clinic, located inside the Heart and Vascular Center on level two of the Durham Outpatient Center.
“We know the more often a heart failure patient is admitted to the hospital, the higher their risk of death and/or morbidity,” said Adam Burdorf, D.O., cardiologist and assistant professor, internal medicine-cardiovascular medicine.
“Heart failure impacts the whole body,” Dr. Burdorf said. “And other disease processes, like diabetes, sleep apnea, and kidney disease, for example, can impact heart failure. We want to keep heart failure patients out of the hospital and improve their quality of life.”
“Heart failure is one of the top diagnosis that cause patients to be readmitted to the hospital,” said Sarah McHenry, clinical program coordinator. “Close follow up is an important aspect of their heart failure management.”
A key piece of that management involves medication — making sure the patient is on the right medication, at the optimal dose.
“A barrier to treating patients with heart failure is that these patients need to be seen often and it can be a challenge to get an appointment,” Dr. Burdorf said. “This clinic offers a way for providers to refer their patients to us, where we can follow them closely, make adjustments rapidly to their medication and then ultimately return back to their provider.”
Inpatients at Nebraska Medical Center will be evaluated for this new clinic. Heart failure patients at risk for poor outcomes already are being identified through screening tools in One Chart. Together with McHenry, cardiology clinical nurse specialist Joan Mack meets with those patients and provides education on how to manage their illness.
Those patients’ charts also will be reviewed by a team of physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) in order to provide input and if appropriate, potentially refer patients to the Optimize Clinic. Patients at Bellevue are not currently evaluated, but providers are invited to refer their patients to the clinic.
“The clinic is specifically designed to focus on patients who have had two or more heart-failure related hospitalizations in 12 months, 30-day heart failure-related readmission, or a new heart failure diagnosis,” McHenry said. “Patients will receive support from multiple disciplines, including pharmacy and nutrition. We really take a team approach to help manage our patients’ comorbidities and refer to appropriate providers.”
The clinic is ran by APPs, pharmacists and dieticians, and will be offered on Thursdays and Fridays. If you have questions, contact Dr. Burdorf or McHenry.