Which patients with heart failure respond best to multidisciplinary disease management?
GROUND: Multidisciplinary disease management approaches have been shown to decrease resource use in selected samples of patients with heart failure. We remain uncertain regarding the effectiveness of this approach in a general heart failure population and who can be expected to benefit most. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary disease management intervention in an unselected population of patients with heart failure and to determine if subgroups could be identified in which the intervention is most effective. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two hundred forty patients with heart failure who were matched on preadmission functional status, comorbidity, and age participated in a quasi-experimental clinical trial. Half (n = 120) were given a multidisciplinary disease management intervention, whereas the other half (n = 120) received usual care. Data on acute care resource use were collected 3 and 6 months after enrollment. No intervention effect was seen in t