MINNEAPOLIS & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A process improvement program significantly improved the quality of care on six of seven guideline-recommended care measures in the largest U.S. outpatient heart failure clinical study. Twenty-four month findings from IMPROVE HF, (The Registry to Improve the Use of Evidence-Based Heart Failure Therapies in the Outpatient Setting), funded by Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), demonstrated that clinics using the process improvement program increased adherence to evidence-based, guideline-recommended care by 82 and 62 percent, respectively, for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) use, and 80 percent for aldosterone antagonist use, all relative to baseline results. Use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB), beta blockers and heart failure education also showed significant improvement.
