PA1 Different Levels of Care for Follow-up of Adults with Congenital Heart Disease

Abstract

Objectives Previous research in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) patients suggested better clinical and managerial outcomes following specialized over general cardiac follow-up. The impact of different care levels, such as shared care, remained uninvestigated. Methods Propensity score analyses were performed on the BELgian COngenital heart disease Database combining Administrative and Clinical data (BELCODAC). Adult patients who ever attended a specialized congenital cardiology clinic (N=6,579) were categorized in five care levels based on their cardiac follow-up pattern between 2006 and 2010. Medium-term (2011-2015) economic outcomes were medical costs and resource use (i.e., hospitalizations and emergency department visits). Results Respectively 51.5% and 80% of patients with moderate and mild lesions were categorized in the general cardiac care (GCC) or no cardiac care group (NCC). In patients with moderate lesions, highly specialized cardiac care (HSC; exclusive follow-up by ACHD specialists) and shared care with predominantly specialized cardiac care (SC+) were associated with significantly lower medical costs and resource use compared to shared care with predominantly general cardiac care (SC-) and GCC. In the patient population with mild lesions, HSC was associated with better economic outcomes than SC- and GCC, but SC+ was not. HSC was associated with fewer hospitalizations (-33%) and less pharmaceutical costs (-46.3%) compared to SC+. Patients with mild and moderate lesions in the NCC group had better economic outcomes than those in the GCC and SC- groups, but post-hoc analysis revealed that they had a different patient profile than patients under cardiac care. Conclusions More specialized care levels are associated with better economic outcomes in patients with mild or moderate lesions in cardiac follow-up. Shared care with strong involvement of ACHD specialists might be a management option to consider. Characteristics of patients without cardiac follow-up but good medium-term economic prospects should be further scrutinized