The American journal of emergency medicine
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A multidisciplinary team at a major academic medical center established an Acutely Decompensated Heart Failure Clinical Pathway (ADHFCP) program to reduce inpatient readmission rates among patients with heart failure which, among several interventions, included an immediate consultation from a cardiologist familiar with an ADHFCP patient when the patient presented at the Emergency Department (ED). This study analyzed how that program impacted utilization of services in the ED and its subsequent effect on rates of admission from the ED and on disposition times. ⋯ Improved communication between cardiologists and ED physicians through the establishment of an explicit pathway to coordinate the care of heart failure patients may decrease that population's likelihood of admission without increasing ED disposition times.