Heart experts warned that Korea lacks adequate medical and financial support for heart failure. They urged reclassifying heart failure from Group B (general hospitalization) to Group A (specialized hospitalization) due to its severity.
On Wednesday, the Korean Society of Heart Failure (KSHF) released the results of a survey of 169 cardiologists on “Heart Failure Specialists’ Roles and Severity Classification,” ahead of the week-long Heart Failure Awareness Week starting on March 24.
“Heart failure has a worse prognosis than most cancers, with a one-year mortality rate of 10 percent among hospitalized patients and an extremely high prevalence of 1 in 18 among the general population over the age of 60,” KSHF said. “However, the lack of understanding and awareness of heart failure among the general public is alarming.”
“Increased understanding and awareness of the severity of heart failure is also required for healthcare providers, especially as the number of patients with complex, severe heart failure is increasing and the need for specialized heart failure care is growing.”
The survey was conducted to assess the current state of heart failure management and identify systemic improvements to ensure the best care and outcomes for heart failure patients.
According to the survey results, 98.8 percent of respondents stated that medical and financial support for heart failure is insufficient, highlighting an urgent need for systemic improvement. Additionally, 96.5 percent of respondents believe that heart failure, currently classified as a severity level “B” (general hospitalization) disease, should be upgraded to severity level “A” (specialized hospitalization).
Heart failure experts cited the following as key reasons for the upgrade: “allocating medical resources commensurate with patient severity (89.3 percent),” “the need for adequate medical specialists (66.9 percent),” and “reducing the burden of drug and device costs (49.1 percent).”
“Heart failure is a high-risk disease with a five-year survival rate often lower than that of cancer patients and a high readmission rate. Yet, patients do not receive adequate care and treatment due to insufficient medical and financial support compared to Group A diseases, such as cancer, under the current classification system,” KSHF stated. “In particular, active outpatient management is essential to reducing readmissions caused by worsening heart failure. However, the current severity classification system lacks the necessary medical resources, staffing, and institutional support to alleviate the patient burden.”
The experts also emphasized that heart failure patients should be prioritized as Group A, particularly those who present to the emergency department with an acute exacerbation (42.6 percent), are admitted to the intensive care unit due to an acute exacerbation (26.6 percent), or require intravenous diuretics (15.4 percent).
“This is a realistic alternative to upscaling all heart failure patients en masse to Group A. By selectively upscaling those with higher severity and more intensive care needs, it allows for a more efficient use of limited healthcare resources while ensuring appropriate care for those who need it,” the society added.
The majority of healthcare providers (95.6 percent) recognize the importance of heart failure specialists in the care of patients with heart failure, with 71.9 percent describing them as “very helpful.” This indicates a strong demand for the role of heart failure specialists in clinical practice.
“Based on the results of this survey, we will continue to raise awareness among the general public through Heart Failure Awareness Week and make recommendations to policymakers to improve heart failure care,” KSHF said.