Hospitalization admission criteria for CHF

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a serious condition associated with high hospitalization and mortality rates. Guidelines published in 1994 by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), specify admission criteria for patients presenting with CHE Although these guidelines were developed by a consensus of experts using recommendations of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, there has been no clinical trial of their validity. Graff and associates quantified patient risk as related to the presence or absence of AHCPR CHF hospitalization admission criteria.

Using a quality improvement initiative organized through the Connecticut Peer Review Organization, 12 acute-care hospitals reviewed medical records of patients admitted from the emergency department with the diagnosis of CHF who were discharged after January 1, 1995. Charts were abstracted for 192 variables useful in predicting patient risk of death. Patients were excluded if they had a primary diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction or some other acute medical condition contributing to CHF, such as thyrotoxicosis, cardiac...