Research carried out by Salt Lake City’s Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute has revealed that risk score-guided care enabled to reduce mortality rate by around 50% in high-risk heart failure patients.

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Image: The study has showed that risk score-guided care has reduced mortality rate by around 50% in high-risk heart failure patients. Photo: courtesy of Intermountain Healthcare.

Risk-score guided care has adopted a precision medicine approach, which is based on team-based care activated by the personalized outcomes of a daily set of clinical risk scores.

Researchers noticed a 48% lower mortality rate and 25% lower 30-day readmission rate, when the risk score-guided pathway was used in high-risk heart failure patients at Intermountain Healthcare hospitals

The study, which included over 6,100 patients, showed that multidisciplinary team care pathway enables physicians to offer better care for heart failure patients based on their individualized medical information.

Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute researcher and the study lead author Dr Benjamin Horne said: “Using new and unique approaches that deliver healthcare to heart failure patients based on the best information we have for their individual needs improves patient outcomes.

“Rather than providing standard treatment protocols to all patients, the study is helping us provide the necessary expanded level of care for patients who are at higher risk for hospital readmissions or death.”

During a four-year period between January 2013 and November 2016, the study assessed 6,182 heart failure patients admitted in one of 20 Intermountain Healthcare hospitals.

In February 2014, the implementation of new precision medicine approach was started across eight of Intermountain Healthcare’s hospitals.

Within 24 hours of a patient being admitted, a daily report was generated that offered multiple risk score calculations to clinicians.

Patients at higher risk for 30-day readmission or death were directed to the pathway, which outlined advanced levels of care from the multidisciplinary team.

Dr Horne further added: “Our study showed that even though deaths were reduced, meaning more critically-ill patients with heart failure were still alive to potentially be readmitted to the hospital, we still saw the readmission rates decrease by 25%.”

Another study carried out by researchers from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute found that smartphone app has effectively identified potential fatal heart attacks with the near accuracy of a standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG).