Physicians treating patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) were more likely to prescribe an added drug class, out of the four guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) classes, when they were prompted by an alert in a patient's electronic health record (EHR).
Clinicians treating more than 1000 outpatients with HFrEF in a large healthcare system were randomized to EHR prompts or no prompts.
At 30 days, more patients with than without an alert in their EHRs (26% vs 19%) were prescribed an additional GDMT class: a beta blocker; a renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitor, including an angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), an angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB), or an angiotensin-receptor-neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI); a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA); or a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor (SGLT2i).
Tariq Ahmad, MD, MH, presented these findings from the aptly named PROMPT-HF (Cluster-Randomized Pragmatic Trial Aimed at Improving Use of Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy in Outpatients With Heart Failure), in a late-breaking clinical trials session at the American College of Cardiology 2022 Scientific Session held in Washington, DC, and virtually. The study, with lead author Lama Ghazi, MD, PhD, was also simultaneously published online April 3 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
"There are four medications that have been shown to dramatically improve outcomes in heart failure, reduce hospitalizations, make patients live longer," Ahmad, from Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, said during a press briefing after the session.
