New Clinical Program at Amedisys for Heart Failure Patients Significantly Lowers Risks of Hospitalizations and Readmissions

BATON ROUGE, La., Feb. 01, 2018 -- Patients diagnosed with heart failure who were enrolled in the new Amedisys Heart Failure program in 2016 and 2017 were significantly less likely to be hospitalized after 30 days or 60 days than those who were not in the program.   

So announced Amedisys, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMED), a leading home health, hospice and personal care company, just in time for American Heart Month (February). Heart failure is the only major cardiovascular disease on the rise, and causes more individuals to be hospitalized than all forms of cancer combined. According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC), some 85.6 million Americans live with cardiovascular diseases, with an estimated 5.7 million suffering from heart failure in particular.

High-risk heart failure patients who participated in the Amedisys program were 5% less likely to be hospitalized after 30 days and 8% less likely after 60 days, while moderate-risk heart failure patients were approximately 4% less likely after 30 days and 3% less likely after 60 days.

The Heart Failure program at Amedisys, launched in 2016, bases these conclusions on a population of 22,675 heart failure patients in 34 states. Other outcome improvements as measured by CMS’s Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings were realized as well. More than 13,000 Amedisys clinicians treat approximately 100,000 heart failure patients annually.

Under this multidisciplinary specialty initiative in home health, Amedisys clinicians step in to educate – and ultimately empower – patients and their families to manage heart conditions at home in order to maintain wellness and foster independence. Patients are coached and motivated to take on a wide range of responsibilities. They set personal goals, regularly weigh themselves, monitor for symptoms, stay alert for warning signs and document progress on a checklist that enables them to communicate more effectively with their physicians.

The program is designed not only to lower unnecessary hospitalizations, and improve health outcomes but also, more broadly, to enhance patient and caregiver quality of life and lower healthcare costs. Amedisys works collaboratively with healthcare systems, hospitals, ACOs, primary care and specialty physicians, rehabilitation centers, assisted living facilities, and healthcare professionals to coordinate patient care.

“Patients in our program are accountable as partners with us in caring for themselves,” said Susan Sender, Chief Clinical Officer at Amedisys. “The more patients and caregivers help themselves, the better we can help them, as is evident by the lower Acute Care Hospitalizations (ACH) rates.”

For more information on how Amedisys can help you, your loved one or your patients, click here.

About Amedisys 
Amedisys, Inc. is a leading healthcare at home Company delivering personalized home health, hospice and personal care. Amedisys is focused on delivering the care that is best for our patients, whether that is home-based personal care; recovery and rehabilitation after an operation or injury; care focused on empowering them to manage a chronic disease; or hospice care at the end of life. We partner with 3,000 hospitals and 59,000 physicians nationwide have chosen Amedisys as a partner in post-acute care. Founded in 1982, headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA with an executive office in Nashville, TN, Amedisys is a publicly held company. With more than 17,500 employees, in 432 care centers in 34 states, Amedisys is dedicated to delivering the highest quality of care to the doorsteps of more than 369,000 patients in need every year. For more information about the Company, please visit: www.amedisys.com.

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