8:33AM Daxor Corporation announces results of blood volume measurement study; major problem in the treatment of heart failure patients is that many of them are discharged in a severely unstable condition (DXR) 7.10 : This study involved blood volume measurements on 29 patients hospitalized for acute heart failure for an average of 5 - 7 days. The lead investigator was Wayne Miller, M.D., PhD. The overwhelming majority of patients are treated by their physicians without actual knowledge of the blood volume derangement of the patients. Physicians treat these patients on the basis of indirect measures which have been shown to be inaccurate when compared to actual measurements of blood volume. In 2003 a published study from Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center showed that experienced cardiologists were only correct 51% of the time using these indirect methods of evaluation in determining whether their patients were blood volume expanded, had a normal blood volume, or a low blood volume. A major problem in the treatment of heart failure patients is that many of them are discharged in a severely unstable condition.
As a result, even at the best hospitals, 20 - 25% of these patients are readmitted within 30 days or less. Until last year, hospitals were reimbursed fully for each time a patient was readmitted, as if it was a completely new problem. Beginning in 2013 Medicare instituted a penalty system by which hospitals could be fined up to 1% of all fees they receive on Medicare patients for excessive readmissions. In 2014 the rate goes up again to 2%; in 2015 up to 3%.
