Abstract 10679: Do Hospitals Caring for a High Proportion of Black Adults Deliver Lower Quality Care for Heart Failure? An Analysis of the Get With the Guidelines-Heart Failure Registry

Abstract

Introduction: Black individuals have higher hospitalization and mortality rates from heart failure (HF). Black adults receive care at a limited set of US hospitals (minority-serving hospitals [MSH]) and understanding quality of care at these sites could inform efforts to improve health equity. Using the Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) - HF Registry, we compared HF care quality and clinical outcomes at MSH vs. non-MSH. Methods: We identified adults ≥18 years hospitalized for HF at GWTG-HF sites. MSH were defined as the top quintile of proportion of hospitalizations for Black adults. We compared performance on GWTG-HF quality measures at MSH vs. non-MSH, adjusting for age, sex, comorbidities, and hospital characteristics, using GEE to account for clustering within sites. After restricting to adults ≥65 years and linking to Medicare FFS claims, we used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to compare post-discharge outcomes. Results: Study population included 422,483 hospitalizations at 480 hospitals, of which 96 (with >38% Black patients) were MSH. Care quality was similar between MSHs and non-MSHs for 10 of 13 GWTG-HF measures; MSH patients were less likely to be discharged with 7-day follow up, CRT device planning, or aldosterone antagonist (Figure). Overall defect-free care was similar across sites; there were no within-hospital disparities between Black vs. White patients at both MSH and non-MSH. Among 111,930 Medicare beneficiaries, risk-adjusted 30-day readmissions were higher at MSH compared with non-MSH (HR 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.26), but risk-adjusted 30-day mortality was similar (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.84-1.02). Conclusions: Across GWTG-HF-participating hospitals, HF care quality and mortality were similar at MSH vs. non-MSH, but MSH 30-day readmissions were higher. Improving MSH post-discharge follow-up could improve equity in HF outcomes, though additional investigation to address higher MSH readmissions is needed.