Quality Improvement Initiative Ups Adherence to Medical Therapy for Heart Failure

MONDAY, June 23, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For patients with heart failure, hospital participation in the IMPLEMENT-HF initiative improves adherence to quadruple medication therapy (QMT), defined as an evidence based β-blocker, sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, angiotensin receptor/neprilysin inhibitor, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, according to a study published online March 21 in Circulation: Heart Failure.

Andrew J. Sauer, M.D., from St. Luke”s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, and colleagues evaluated patients hospitalized for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction at hospitals participating in the American Heart Association”s Get With The Guidelines-HF who volunteered to participate in IMPLEMENT-HF, a quality improvement initiative to enhance care and outcomes by increasing use of QMT. Utilization and variation of QMT was examined from quarter 1 (Q1) 2021 to Q2 2023.

The median age of 43,558 patients admitted at 61 hospitals was 74 years; 38 percent belonged to racial and ethnic minorities and 51 percent were women. The researchers found that defect-free QMT improved from 4.7 to 44.6 percent at discharge and from 0 to 44.8 percent at 30 days between Q1 2021 and Q2 2023. Incorporation of health-related social needs assessments also improved substantially. When stratified by sex or race and ethnicity, the magnitude of improvements was similar; significant regional variation was seen.

“This initiative represents an important leap forward in closing the treatment gap in heart failure,” Sauer said in a statement. “By supporting collaborative learning and leveraging real-time data, IMPLEMENT-HF enabled hospitals to better serve patients in varied communities.”

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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