More than half of Australians with heart failure are not being referred to a cardiologist within a month of diagnosis and over 40% have no chronic disease management plan, troubling new figures show.
The industry-funded analysis of general practice records for 20,219 patients with HF also suggested that even among those with a care plan, it was most likely created for some other condition, a team of GP and cardiology researchers have reported.
They found that among the patients with definite HF, just 7,459 (48.2%) were referred to a cardiologist, while 11% received an endocrinologist referral and some 5% a referral to a renal physician.
Some 4750 patients with no formal diagnosis but typical signs and symptoms in combination with a diuretic prescription were identified as having probable HF.
This group were even less likely to be sent to a cardiologist, with just 42% receiving a referral, the researchers found.
Writing in the Australian Journal of General Practice, they reported HF patients were regular users of GP services, attending their GP practice 14 times per year on average.
“However, there was little use of MBS-funded care plans,” the researchers wrote (link here).
“Despite the complexity of managing HF, nearly half of patients with HF did not have a chronic disease management plan, only 35.3% had had their plan reviewed, and fewer than 3% had their item reviewed annually as is funded by Medicare.”
Even where a care plan existed, it was “probably implemented not for HF but for another chronic condition,” the team added, pointing to data showing the plans were more likely to be created and reviewed among patients with concomitant diabetes, osteoporosis and COPD or asthma.