An Evaluation of Models of Care for Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction Through the Use of a Microsimulation Model

Heart failure is a complicated medical condition that decreases patients’ quality of life and life expectancy. It is recommended that patients with heart failure receive care, and have their medications managed, by specialized heart failure clinics. However, heart failure clinic teams are different across the province (for example, only some teams have a pharmacist) and not every patient with heart failure has access to one of these clinics. This research will determine if there is a better way to manage heart failure medications in British Columbia. This could mean creating a standard team of healthcare providers for these clinics or better promoting heart failure care outside of these clinics (such as by family doctors). The results of this research will be used by Cardiac Services BC to decide how to best improve heart failure medication management across British Columbia.

This research has been generously funded by Health Research BC, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Cardiac Services BC through a Health System Impact Fellowship. Dr. Ricky Turgeon (Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences), Kelly Mackay (Senior Director Provincial Quality with Cardiac Services BC), and Dr. Nathaniel Hawkins (clinician-scientist cardiologist and Associate Professor at the Unive