This is the second private center to join the innovative program endorsed by the main Scientific Societies.
Each year in Spain, more than 107.000 people are hospitalized for heart failure (HF) , a chronic disease that impairs the heart's ability to pump blood effectively. It is the leading cause of hospitalization in people over 65 and accounts for between 3% and 5% of all hospital admissions in Spain. Projections indicate a 50% increase in the admission rate over the next 25 years.
With the aim of improving the transition to hospital discharge for heart failure patients, the La Luz University Hospital will implement the MAIC Continuum program , developed by Boehringer Ingelheim and designed by healthcare experts in heart failure to enhance patient care and minimize the risk of hospital readmissions. In this regard, it is crucial to recognize that hospital discharge is a critical moment, as it is essential to ensure, among other things, patient adherence to treatment and to personalize it as much as possible by adjusting the medication regimen to the patient's progress.
This is the second private center to join the program and, as Dr. Roberto Martín Reyes, head of the Cardiology Department at La Luz University Hospital, explains, with the MAIC Continuum program we hope to achieve a standardization of the management of patients with heart failure within the hospital, and thus obtain better health outcomes in the care process.
For her part, Ana Ampudia, head of the Cardio Renal Metabolic area in Market Access & Healthcare Affairs at Boehringer Ingelheim, highlighted this confidence, stating that "the entry of centers from the Quirónsalud group is an important milestone for incorporating into the project the vision from a private sector where there are new challenges and key factors in the approach to the patient with heart failure."
The health costs associated with heart failure (HF) in Spain represent 3,8% of the total health cost and hospitalizations concentrate a significant economic burden. In fact, it is estimated that hospital costs (including transplant costs) amount to almost 470 million euros per year. For all these reasons, HF is a challenge for the Spanish health system and one of the critical moments is the transition between hospital discharge and the beginning of outpatient follow-up. Optimizing this process minimizes the risk of hospital readmissions and improves the patient's quality of life.
Multidisciplinary approach to hospital discharge
The MAIC Continuum program defines the optimal transition process for hospital discharge of patients with this disease and offers a series of tools to facilitate its implementation. The methodology is based on the multidisciplinary work of the various healthcare professionals involved in the patient's discharge and outpatient follow-up. "At La Luz University Hospital, several healthcare professionals will be developing the program, including those from the cardiology, internal medicine, emergency, and primary care departments. The working group is led by Dr. Teresa Alvarado , head of the Heart Failure Unit at UICAR," explains Roberto Martín Reyes.
The plan is a flexible model that will be adapted to the specific context of each hospital, which, as a first step, conducts a self-assessment of its situation. This involves evaluating how they handle the discharge of patients with heart failure and identifying factors that can be improved across different medical departments. "Based on this self-assessment, we will develop an Action Plan that can then be evaluated using pre-established indicators to assess the results," explains Dr. Martín Reyes.
Currently, more than 20 Spanish hospitals participate in the MAIC Continuum program and are endorsed by the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC), the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI), and the Spanish Society of Primary Care Physicians (SEMERGEN). , the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC), the Spanish Society of Health Managers (SEDISA) and the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy (SEFH).