The Road Less Traveled: Recognizing Comorbidities and Non-Traditional Characteristics in Patients With Heart Failure

Addressing the totality of care for patients with heart failure is crucial to reducing readmissions. How can physicians better recognize the comorbities that may affect older patients with heart failure in order to improve outcomes? What type of benefits can a more holistic, nuanced approach to managing heart failure offer patients? Dr. John Spertus, cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and clinical director of outcomes research at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute, discusses some of the non-traditional patient characteristics and symptoms physicians should consider and address when caring for patients with heart failure, including impaired mobility, dementia and depression. How can physicians promote a multidisciplinary approach to system-based processes when caring for patients with heart failure, and how is health policy impacting the delivery of care? Dr. Janet Wright hosts.