Heart Failure: How a New Program is Saving Lives in Vermont

HealthSource Radio at the University of Vermont Medical Center

More than five million Americans have heart failure, making it one of the leading causes of hospitalization. 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States. Experts estimate that by 2030 more than eight million Americans will have heart failure, that's one out of every 33 people. Heart failure also accounts for the highest 30 day admission rate of any diagnosis. With more than one million hospitalizations each year in the US. A new program with the University of Vermont Health Network is helping to reduce that rate, seeing a 14 percent reduction in its first year. Robert Hamble, a heart failure nurse clinician at the University of Vermont Medical Center, talks with us about his work on this issue.