Heart Failure and Nurse Led Disease Management

Randomized, controlled trials have shown that nurse-led disease management for patients with heart failure can reduce hospitalizations. However, there is less evidence about the cost-effectiveness of these programs. Researchers looked at cost data from a randomized trial of 203 usual care patients versus 203 nurse-managed patients with heart failure. The study consisted mainly of black and Hispanic patients with lower socioeconomic status. Patients in the nurse-managed group maintained better physical functioning throughout the 12-month intervention than did usual care patients. In addition, nurse-led case management was cost-effective (it cost $20,000 per additional year of survival in good health). Researchers concluded that nurse-led disease management was a reasonably cost-effective way to reduce the burden of heart failure in an ethnically diverse urban setting. The results might not apply to patients in other communities.

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