Evidence-based strategies to reduce readmission in patients with heart failure

Preventable hospital readmission is an increasingly prominent target in policy discussions. It is crucial to find feasible strategies for each health care system to further reduce heart failure readmissions cost-effectively and improve patient outcomes and health care performance. An electronic database search for relevant articles published in English before March 2012 was done. Nineteen articles of evidence-based strategies for reducing readmissions were included in this review. A variety of measures have been taken in health care, but the conclusive evidence of improved clinical outcomes and costs for such programs have had disparate results in different systems.