Circulation: Exercise training for HF patients shifts costs to patientsCardiovascularBusinessThe cost of exercise training was relatively low for the healthcare system, but patients incurred significant time costs, based on an economic sub-study of HF-ACTION, published online June 15 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. In this economic evaluation, the researchers said there was little systematic benefit in terms of overall medical resource use with this intervention. HF-ACTION (Heart Failure: A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes of Exercise Training) assigned 2,331 outpatients with medically stable heart failure to exercise training or usual care. Shelby D. Reed, PhD, from the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, N.C., and colleagues compared medical resource use and costs incurred by these patients during follow-up. The researchers collected extensive data on medical resource use and hospital bills throughout the trial for estimates of direct medical costs. They estimated intervention costs using patient-level trial data, administrative records and published unit costs. |