Heart Failure
Why Heart Failure Care Measures are Important
Heart failure is a weakening of the heart's pumping power. With heart failure, your body doesn't get enough oxygen and nutrients to meet its needs. Your heart tries to pump more blood, but the muscle walls become weaker over time. These measures show some of the standards of care provided for most adults with heart failure.
Symptoms of heart failure may include:
- Shortness of breath from fluid in the lungs
- Swelling (such as in legs, ankles or abdomen)
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Cold or clammy skin
- A rapid or irregular heartbeat
Heart failure can be a result of heart condition due to:
- Hardening of the arteries, also known as coronary artery disease a heart attack
- Cardiomyopathy (heart muscle damage from infection or alcohol or drug abuse)
- An overworked heart (caused over time by conditions like high blood pressure, kidney disease, diabetes, or a defect from birth)
For more information about heart health go to:
Heart Failure Patient Mortality (Death)
This score tells you about the percent (rate) of heart failure patients that died within 30 days of going into the hospital.
This information is important because one way to tell if a hospital is doing a good job is to see if the death (mortality) rate for heart failure patients treated at that hospital is better than, the same as or worse than the U.S. national average. The death rates take into account how sick patients were before they were admitted to the hospital.
Lower numbers are better.
How is Lutheran Hospital doing with heart failure patient deaths?
| July 2018 – December 2019 and July 2020 - June 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Lutheran Hospital | 10.7% |
| U.S. national average | 11.3% |
- The difference between Lutheran Hospital and the national average is not significant.
- Only regular Medicare patients are included. People in Medicare Advantage (managed care plans) and people who do not have Medicare are not included.
- Learn More.
Heart Failure Patient Hospital Readmission
This score tells you about the percent (rate) of hospitalized heart failure patients who go back into a hospital again within 30 days after going home. Patients may have been readmitted back to the same hospital or to a different hospital. They may have been readmitted for heart failure-related care or for a different reason.
This information is important because one way to tell if a hospital is doing a good job is to see if the readmission rate for heart failure patients is better than, the same as or worse than the U.S. national average. The readmission rates take into account how sick patients were before they were admitted to the hospital.
Lower numbers are better.
How is Lutheran Hospital doing with heart failure patient hospital readmission?
| July 2018 – December 2019 and July 2020 - June 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Lutheran Hospital | 20.9% |
| U.S. national average | 21.3% |
- The difference between Lutheran Hospital and the national average is not significant
- Only regular Medicare patients are included. People in Medicare Advantage (managed care plans) and people who do not have Medicare are not included.
- Learn More.
Keep in mind that you should not choose a hospital based solely on reported data.
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Updated: September 2022
