A Nationwide Initiative to Improve Cardiology Quality: The Best Practice in Cardiology Program in Brazil. / Uma Iniciativa Nacional de Melhoria da Qualidade em Cardiologia: O Programa de Boas Práticas em Cardiologia no Brasil.

BACKGROUND: A Nationwide Initiative to Improve Cardiology Quality: The Best Practice in Cardiology Program in Brazil ACEI/ARB: angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker; LVEF: left ventricular ejection fraction; LVSD: left ventricular systolic dysfunction; AF: atrial fibrillation; PT/INR: prothrombin time/international normalized ratio. BACKGROUND: Despite significant progress in improving the quality of cardiovascular care, persistent gaps remain in terms of inconsistent adherence to guideline recommendations. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the effects of implementing a quality improvement program adapted from the American Heart Association's Get with the Guidelines™ initiative on adherence to guideline-directed medical therapy for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), atrial fibrillation (AF), and heart failure (HF). METHODS: We examined demographics, quality measures, and short-term outcomes in patients hospitalized with ACS, AF, and HF enrolled in the Best Practice in Cardiology (BPC) Program from 2016 to 2022. RESULTS: This study included 12,167 patients in 19 hospitals in Brazil. Mean age was 62.5 [53.8-71] y/o; 61.1% were male, 68.7% had hypertension, 32.0% diabetes mellitus, and 24.1% had dyslipidemia. Composite score had a sustainable performance in the period from baseline to the last quarter: 65.8±36.2% to 73± 31.2% for AF (p=0.024), 81.0± 23.6% to 89.9 ± 19.3% for HF (p<0.001), and from 88.0 ± 19.1 to 91.2 ±14.9 for ACS (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The BPC program is a quality improvement program in Brazil in which real-time data, obtained using cardiology guideline metrics, were implemented in a quality improvement program resulting in an overall sustained improvement in AF, HF, and ACS management.