Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Test Rates for Medicare Heart Failure Patients
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Bei Wu, Associate Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) test rate is increasingly used as a quality of care indicator for pa-tients with heart failure. Our study produced benchmark LVEF test rates in a Medicare fee-for-service population for consideration by a clinical panel assembled by the Health Care Financing Administration. Our sample consisted of 46,583 beneficiaries admitted to the hospital for heart failure and with a complete set of Medicare fee-for- service bills dated 1996 or 1997. The national 2-year LVEF test rate was 79% for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries hospitalized for heart failure. Except for 1 state, the test rate ranged from 61% to 89% across states. Our analysis demonstrates the feasibility of using billing data to compute LVEF test rates. Using a 2-year time window and measuring tests performed in outpatient as well as inpatient settings, we find a higher LVEF test rate than has been reported by most previous studies.
Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Test Rates for Medicare Heart Failure Patients
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Created on 1/1/2002
Views: 9950
Additional Information
- Publication
- American Journal of Medical Quality,17(2), 61-66
- Language: English
- Date: 2002
- Keywords
- Heart failure, Left ventricular ejection fraction, Medicare + Choice, Medicare fee-for-service, Quality of care