The American journal of emergency medicine
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For emergency department (ED) patients with acute exacerbations of heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), we aimed to assess the adherence to evidence-based care and determine the proportion that experienced adverse events. ⋯ A small proportion of return ED visits were related to index care. We believe there is need for improvement around disposition decision making for both conditions to reduce the highly preventable and clinically significant adverse events we found.