QIPP case study: Home administration of intravenous diuretics to heart failure patients

This case study "summarises a two-year pilot programme to assess safe and effective ways for specialist nursing teams to administer intravenous (IV) diuretics to people at home or in a day-care setting preventing hospital admissions and improving patient experience."

Home administration of intravenous diuretics to heart failure patients: Increasing productivity and improving quality of care
British Heart Foundation
December 2013

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Telemonitoring after discharge from hospital with heart failure

"Cost-effectiveness analyses suggest that telemonitoring was an optimal strategy in most scenarios, but there is considerable uncertainty in relation to clear descriptions of the interventions and robust estimation of costs."

Telemonitoring after discharge from hospital with heart failure: cost-effectiveness modelling of alternative service designs
P Thokala, et al.
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003250

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Reducing cardiac arrests in the acute admissions unit

"Through adoption of a shared goal, application of improvement methodology including the model for improvement to test new innovations, and promotion of a safety culture in the AAU, cardiac arrests were successfully reduced to <1/1000 admissions per month with an associated significant fall in mortality. This was achieved with negligible cost."

Reducing cardiac arrests in the acute admissions unit: a quality improvement journey
DJ Beckett, M Inglis, S Oswald, E Thomson, W Harley, J Wilson, RC Lloyd, KD Rooney
BMJ Quality & Safety, 2013, 7(17)

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Allocating scarce resources to reduce heart failure readmissions

"An electronic medical record-enabled strategy that targeted scarce care transition resources to high-risk HF patients significantly reduced the risk-adjusted odds of readmission."

Allocating scarce resources in real-time to reduce heart failure readmissions: a prospective, controlled study
R Amarasingham, PC Patel, K Toto, LL Nelson, TS Swanson, BJ Moore, B Xie, S Zhang, KS Alvarez, Y Ma, MH Drazner, U Kollipara, EA Halm,
BMJ Quality and Safety Online First, published on 31 July 2013

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Contemporary evidence about hospital strategies for reducing 30-day readmissions

"Although most hospitals have a written objective of reducing preventable readmissions of patients with heart failure or acute myocardial infarction, the implementation of recommended practices varied widely."

Contemporary evidence about hospital strategies for reducing 30-day readmissions: a national study
EH Bradley, et al.
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2012, online first

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