Heart Failure Risk models and their readiness for clinical practice

The aging population is putting an ever increasing burden on healthcare costs, of which care for Heart Failure patients constitutes a major portion. High readmission rates are observed for this large and increasing patient population, which contribute to a large extent to the costs involved in care for Heart Failure. Risk models, when applied in a Clinical Decision Support system, have the potential to help to optimize care based upon expected mortality or readmission. By tailoring care and optimizing care transitions, healthcare costs can be reduced and quality of life of patients may be improved. Although numerous risk models for hospitalized Heart Failure patients have been coined, the uptake of such models in clinical practice is currently very limited. In a quest to identify risk models with high potential and the conditions for successful adaptation, a literature review was performed, identifying 55 Heart Failure risk models, and opportunities explored to apply such models in clinical practice.