Below is the summary of active, completed and planned projects.
Project Label: HFCOMM
Title: Physician-Patient Communication in Patients with Heart Failure
PI: Deswal, Anita
Goal: The specific aim is to assess the relationship of communication to outcomes in patients with chronic heart failure
Project Label: HFCVS
Title: Variation in VA compliance with CHF Guidelines: EPRP
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To determine the variation in guideline compliance for several heart failure treatments.
Project Label: VAICD
Title: Optimal Use and Cost-Effectiveness of ICDs in the VA Health Care System
PI: Massie, Barry
Goal: Utilizing the unique information available through the VA National ICD Surveillance Center (VANISC) to develop methods for predicting the clinical outcomes and estimating the cost-effectiveness associated with ICD therapy in veteran patients and subgroups among individual veterans.
Project Label: ICDIMP
Title: Impact Of Devices and Procedures on Cardiovascular Diseases
PI: Groeneveld, Peter
Goal: To understand the impact of ICDs and other devices on health status for all patients and for outcome in general for patients not eligible for clinical trails.
Project Label: VAHFDB
Title: VA Heart Failure Database
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To create a local database using existing datasets (e.g., VISTA).
Project Label: MEDIMAGE
Title: Patient Medication Sheet with Pictures of Medications
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To develop a patient medication sheet with pictures of the medications in collaboration with Pharmacy Benefits Management and the Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy.
Project Label: AFIBMI
Title: Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation: Impact of Mental Illness
PI: Frayne, Susan
Goal: To determine whether processes of care (receipt of anticoagulation, time in therapeutic range of INR) and outcomes (strokes, bleeds and deaths) differ for patients with and without MHC.
Project Label: EFQUAL
Title: Quality of Measuring the LV Ejection Fraction
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To determine the variation in the accuracy of LVEF readings, and the association with provider certification and training.
Project Label: ALDANT
Title: Compliance with Guideline Recommended use of Aldosterone Antagonism use in the VA
PI: Sahay, Anju
Goal: To measure the use of aldosterone antagonists in the VA system through the External Peer Review Program.
Project Label: IMPL ECHO REMIND BB
Title: National Implementation of Clinical Reminders in the Echo report for beta-blockers: RCT
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To implement the results of a published VA Quality Improvement study at echocardiography laboratories of all VA facilities.
Project Label: APNCEA
Title: Cost Effectiveness of Nurse Based Program for Heart Failure Patients
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To determine the cost-effectiveness of the nurse-based program and develop a business case for a nurse based program that will be used to implement clinical practice guidelines and improve compliance with performance measures.
Project Label: HFORG
Title: Impact of Organizational Factors on Quality of Heart Failure Care
PI: Sahay, Anju
Goal: To examine the effect of organizational, provider and patient characteristics on the delivery of guideline recommended care to veterans with heart failure.
Project Label: HFOEFOIF
Title: Screening of OEI/OIF Veterans for Heart Failure
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To collaborate with investigators examining the relationship between polytrauma, sleep apnea and cardiomyopathy.
Project Label: HFCARE
Title: Heart Failure Related Caregiver Information on My Health eVet
PI: Sahay, Anju
Goal: To collaborate with My Health eVet to make care-giver information available to all veterans for heart failure-specific and general care-giving.
Project Label: HEARTPACT
Title: Heart PACT: Patient Activation in High-Risk Patients with Heart Failure
PI: Shively, Martha
Goal: To determine the efficacy of a patient activation intervention (called Heart PACT Program) compared to usual care on activation, self-care management, and hospitalizations and emergency department visits in heart failure patients at high risk for hospital readmission.
Project Label: PCDMHF
Title: Collaborative Care Cardiac Project
PI: Rumsfeld, John
Goal: To ascertain whether a collaborative approach to managing CSA in primary care results in better symptom control and quality of life than routine care; assess whether the practice of providers assigned to the intervention group is more consistent with national clinical practice guidelines than that of control providers; assess satisfaction of both patients and providers with this approach to management; and assess marginal cost-effectiveness.
Project Label: IHI5MHF
Title: National Collaborative to Improve the Transition from Inpatient to Outpatient (IHI initiative)
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: The Heart Failure Network has been focusing on the Institute for Health Improvement's Save Five Million Lives from Harm campaign over the next two years (December 2006 - December 2008) to protect patients from 5 million incidents of medical harm. Plan is to form a collaborative to improve transition from inpatient to outpatient.
Project Label: HFCCHT
Title: High Risk HF Identification for Care Coordination
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: For those patients noting interest in home monitoring (Care Coordination Home Telehealth-CCHT) their providers are notified, and over 40% of patients have been referred for CCHT.
Project Label: HFMHV
Title: My Health eVet - Health Status Questionnaire and Care Assessment Tools
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To implement an online health status measure for patients with heart failure on My HealtheVet. To create and implement a patient directed quality improvement tool for heart failure patients on My HealtheVet.
Project Label: HFNETWORK
Title: Heart Failure Network: An Innovative Strategy for Implementation
PI: Sahay, Anju
Goal: Currently we are doing formative evaluation of the Heart Failure Network to improve its effectiveness.
Project Label: HF SCREENa
Title: Screening For Unsuspected Heart Failure
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To determine the cost-effectiveness of a limited echocardiographic examination as a screen for unrecognized depressed LVEF.
Project Label: HF SCREENb
Title: Heart Failure Detection and Progression In Renal Disease
PI: Shlipak, Michael
Goal: To provide novel, scientific discoveries that lead to the identification of persons at increased heart failure risk, the early detection of incident heart failure, and the prevention of heart failure morbidity.
Project Label: HFADHER
Title: Non-Adherence to ACEi and Beta-Blockers in the Elderly with Heart Failure
PI: Steinman, Michael
Goal: To determine the association between patient age and use of guideline-recommended medications, and explore how patient, provider, and system factors mediate the relationship between age and prescribing.
Project Label: V23CDC
Title: Chronic Disease Collaborative for Heart Failure
PI: Anand, Inderjit
Goal: To focus is on medication optimization including use of Beta Blockers in treatment of Class III and IV CHF.
Project Label: ECHOREMINDACEi
Title: Clinical Reminders in Echo Reports to Improve Guideline Compliance with ACE Inhibitors.
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To determine if a reminder attached to the echocardiography report could increase the prescribed dosage of ACE inhibitors.
Project Label: HFPTED
Title: Heart Failure Related Patient Education Materials for Veterans
PI: Sahay, Anju
Goal: Collected existing heart-failure related patient education materials from the VA Patient Education Network and COLLAGE, reviewed them and created an educational product posted on CHF QUERI's website.
Project Label: ECHO REMIND BB
Title: Clinical Reminders in Diagnostic Test Reports to Improve Guideline Compliance
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To determine if a reminder attached to the echocardiography report would increase the use of beta-blockers among patients with depressed left ventricular function.
Project Label: BB INITIATION
Title: Innovative Strategies for Implementing New CHF Guideline Recommendations
PI: Massie, Barry
Goal: To determine whether interventions using individual patient-based Computer Reminders together with a patient letter or utilizing a nurse facilitator to assist the provider in initiating and uptitrating beta-blockers would be more effective in increasing beta-blocker use than an intensive program of provider education.
Project Label: HFOUTREACH
Title: Advanced Heart Failure Outreach Program: Effect on Outcomes
PI: Stehlik, Joseph
Goal: To assess the likelihood that outreach efforts by providers from an advanced heart failure program can improve outcomes in veterans at remote VA health care facilities, where geography limits access to tertiary care.
Project Label: HFSHM
Title: Heart Failure Shared Medical Appointment: Improving Quality through Interdisciplinary Service Delivery
PI: Piña, Ileana
Goal: To examine the effectiveness of a heart failure shared medical appointment (HFSMA) clinic.
Project Label: HFNEES
Title: Heart Failure Network: Partnership of VA Providers to Improve the Quality of Care for Veterans
PI: Sahay, Anju
Goal: CHF QUERI has initiated the VA Heart Failure Provider Network (HF Network) - a network of VA providers interested in improving heart failure care throughout the VA healthcare system.
Project Label: BBHF
Title: Beta-Blocker Type and Outcome In Heart Failure
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To examine if there is a class effect or individual effect of beta-blockers outside of the trial setting.
Project Label: HFDUAL
Title: Impact of Dual Care for VA Patients with Heart Failure
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To determine if veterans who seek heart failure care within and without the VA system has better or worse outcomes than those who stay within the VA.
Project Label: AAHYDISO
Title: VA Use of Hydralazine/ Isosorbide Dinitrate for African Americans with Systolic Heart Failure
PI: Heidenreich, Paul
Goal: To determine the current use of hydralazine/isosorbide dinitrate for African American veterans with Systolic Heart Failure (EF<40%).To compare use across facilities and determine patient and facility predictors of use.
Project Label: HFNINFLU
Title: Assessing Influence of the Heart Failure Network on Patient Outcomes
PI: Wholey, Douglas
Goal: To assess the influence of the Heart Failure Network on patient outcomes.
