Fran Fiocchi

Cardiac Performance Measure Compliance in Outpatients: The American College of Cardiology and National Cardiovascular Data Registry's PINNACLE (Practice Innovation And Clinical Excellence) Program

OBJECTIVES We examined compliance with performance measures for 14,464 patients enrolled from July 2008 through June 2009 into the American College of Cardiologys PINNACLE (Practice Innovation And Clinical Excellence) program to provide initial insights into the quality of outpatient cardiac care. BACKGROUND Little is known about the quality of care of outpatients with coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure, and atrial fibrillation, and whether sex and racial disparities exist in the treatment of outpatients. METHODS The PINNACLE program is the first, national, prospective office-based quality improvement program of cardiac patients designed, in part, to capture, report, and improve outpatient performance measure compliance. We examined the proportion of patients whose care was compliant with established American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and American Medical Association-Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (ACC/AHA/PCPI) performance measures for CAD, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. RESULTS There were 14,464 unique patients enrolled from 27 U.S. practices, accounting for 18,021 clinical visits. Of these, 8,132 (56.4%) had CAD, 5,012 (34.7%) had heart failure, and 2,786 (19.3%) had nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Data from the PINNACLE program were feasibly collected for 24 of 25 ACC/AHA/PCPI performance measures. Compliance with performance measures ranged from being very low (e.g., 13.3% of CAD patients screened for diabetes mellitus) to very high (e.g., 96.7% of heart failure patients with blood pressure assessments), with moderate (70% to 90%) compliance observed for most performance measures. For 3 performance measures, there were small differences in compliance rates by race or sex. CONCLUSIONS For more than 14,000 patients enrolled from 27 practices in the outpatient PINNACLE program, we found that compliance with performance measures was variable, even after accounting for exclusion criteria, suggesting an important opportunity to improve the quality of outpatient care.

Cardiac Performance Measure Compliance in Outpatients

OBJECTIVES We examined compliance with performance measures for 14,464 patients enrolled from July 2008 through June 2009 into the American College of Cardiologys PINNACLE (Practice Innovation And Clinical Excellence) program to provide initial insights into the quality of outpatient cardiac care. BACKGROUND Little is known about the quality of care of outpatients with coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure, and atrial fibrillation, and whether sex and racial disparities exist in the treatment of outpatients. METHODS The PINNACLE program is the first, national, prospective office-based quality improvement program of cardiac patients designed, in part, to capture, report, and improve outpatient performance measure compliance. We examined the proportion of patients whose care was compliant with established American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and American Medical Association-Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (ACC/AHA/PCPI) performance measures for CAD, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. RESULTS There were 14,464 unique patients enrolled from 27 U.S. practices, accounting for 18,021 clinical visits. Of these, 8,132 (56.4%) had CAD, 5,012 (34.7%) had heart failure, and 2,786 (19.3%) had nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Data from the PINNACLE program were feasibly collected for 24 of 25 ACC/AHA/PCPI performance measures. Compliance with performance measures ranged from being very low (e.g., 13.3% of CAD patients screened for diabetes mellitus) to very high (e.g., 96.7% of heart failure patients with blood pressure assessments), with moderate (70% to 90%) compliance observed for most performance measures. For 3 performance measures, there were small differences in compliance rates by race or sex. CONCLUSIONS For more than 14,000 patients enrolled from 27 practices in the outpatient PINNACLE program, we found that compliance with performance measures was variable, even after accounting for exclusion criteria, suggesting an important opportunity to improve the quality of outpatient care.

Cognitive dysfunction and poor health literacy are common in veterans presenting with acute coronary syndrome: insights from the MEDICATION study.

Background Patient nonadherence to cardiac medications following acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is associated with increased risk of recurrent events. However, the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction and poor health literacy among ACS patients and their association with medication nonadherence are poorly understood. Methods We assessed rates of cognitive dysfunction and poor health literacy among participants of a clinical trial that tested the effectiveness of an intervention to improve medication adherence in patients hospitalized with ACS. Of 254 patients, 249 completed the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine, Revised (REALM-R) survey, an assessment of risk for poor literacy, and the St Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) exam, a tool assessing for neurocognitive deficits, during ACS hospitalization. We assessed if SLUMS or REALM-R scores were associated with medication adherence. Results Based on SLUMS score, 14% of patients were categorized as having dementia, and 52% with mild neurocognitive disorder (MNCD). Based on REALM-R score of ≤6, 34% of patients were categorized as at risk for poor health literacy. There was no association between poor health literacy and medication nonadherence. Of those with MNCD, 35.5% were nonadherent, compared to 17.5% with normal cognitive function and 6.7% with dementia. In multivariable analysis, cognitive dysfunction was associated with medication nonadherence (P=0.007), mainly due to an association between MNCD and nonadherence (odds ratio =12.2, 95% confidence interval =1.9 to 243; P=0.007). Cognitive status was not associated with adherence in patients randomized to the intervention. Conclusion Cognitive dysfunction and risk for poor health literacy are common in patients hospitalized with ACS. We found an association between MNCD and medication nonadherence in the usual care group but not in the intervention group. These findings suggest efforts to screen for MNCD are needed during ACS hospitalization to identify patients at risk for nonadherence and who may benefit from an adherence intervention.

Cardiac Performance Measure Compliance in Outpatients: The American College of Cardiology and National Cardiovascular Data Registry’s PINNACLE Program™

OBJECTIVES We examined compliance with performance measures for 14,464 patients enrolled from July 2008 through June 2009 into the American College of Cardiologys PINNACLE (Practice Innovation And Clinical Excellence) program to provide initial insights into the quality of outpatient cardiac care. BACKGROUND Little is known about the quality of care of outpatients with coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure, and atrial fibrillation, and whether sex and racial disparities exist in the treatment of outpatients. METHODS The PINNACLE program is the first, national, prospective office-based quality improvement program of cardiac patients designed, in part, to capture, report, and improve outpatient performance measure compliance. We examined the proportion of patients whose care was compliant with established American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and American Medical Association-Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (ACC/AHA/PCPI) performance measures for CAD, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. RESULTS There were 14,464 unique patients enrolled from 27 U.S. practices, accounting for 18,021 clinical visits. Of these, 8,132 (56.4%) had CAD, 5,012 (34.7%) had heart failure, and 2,786 (19.3%) had nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Data from the PINNACLE program were feasibly collected for 24 of 25 ACC/AHA/PCPI performance measures. Compliance with performance measures ranged from being very low (e.g., 13.3% of CAD patients screened for diabetes mellitus) to very high (e.g., 96.7% of heart failure patients with blood pressure assessments), with moderate (70% to 90%) compliance observed for most performance measures. For 3 performance measures, there were small differences in compliance rates by race or sex. CONCLUSIONS For more than 14,000 patients enrolled from 27 practices in the outpatient PINNACLE program, we found that compliance with performance measures was variable, even after accounting for exclusion criteria, suggesting an important opportunity to improve the quality of outpatient care.

Coronary Artery Disease Performance Measures and Statin Use in Patients With Recent Percutaneous Coronary Intervention or Recent Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (from the NCDR PINNACLE Registry)

The association between coronary revascularization strategy (percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI] or coronary artery bypass grafting [CABG]) and compliance with coronary artery disease (CAD) performance measures is not well studied. Our analysis studied patients enrolled in the Practice Innovation and Clinical Excellence registry, who underwent coronary revascularization using PCI or CABG in the 12 months before their most recent outpatient visit in 2011. We compared the attainment of CAD performance measures and statin use in eligible patients with PCI and CABG using hierarchical logistic regression models. Our study cohort consisted of 112,969 patients (80,753 with PCI and 32,216 with CABG). After adjustment for site and patient characteristics, performance measure compliance for tobacco use query (odds ratio [OR] 0.80; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.76 to 0.86), antiplatelet therapy (OR 0.9; 95% CI 0.86 to 0.94) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker therapy (OR 0.89; 95% CI 0.84 to 0.94) was lower in CABG compared with patients with PCI. Patients who underwent recent CABG had higher rates of β-blocker (OR 1.25; 95% CI 1.16 to 1.33) and statin treatment (OR 1.37; 95% CI 1.31 to 1.43) compared with patients with PCI. Of the 79 practice sites, 15 (19%) had ≥75% of their patients with CAD (CABG or PCI) meeting 75% to 100% of all eligible CAD performance measures. In conclusion, gaps persist in compliance with specific CAD performance measures in patients with recent PCI or CABG, and 1 in 5 practices had ≥75% compliance of eligible CAD performance measures in the most of their patients.