Interventions for heart failure readmissions: successes and failures.

Heart failure readmissions result in significant costs to the health care system and to patients' quality of life, but programs to reduce readmissions have met with mixed success. Successful strategies have included multidisciplinary hospital-based quality initiatives, disease management programs, and care transition interventions. Devices like telemonitors and indwelling catheters, however, have met with mixed success. Research is still needed to elucidate the most effective interventions for readmission reduction in the HF population.