Caring for CVD Outpatients: Data on Quality of Care and Provider Type

The time has come to embrace the use of advanced practice providers in caring for outpatients with cardiovascular disease.

How do physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs; nurse practitioners and physician assistants) compare in the quality of outpatient cardiovascular disease (CVD) care that they provide? Investigators used data from the American College of Cardiology's PINNACLE registry to examine adherence to outpatient quality measures in coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure, and atrial fibrillation among 716 physicians and 167 APPs in 41 cardiology practices in 2012.

Data on more than 450,000 patients were analyzed. APPs saw a mean of fewer patients than did physicians (261 vs. 581). Most physicians, but few APPs, were male (91% vs. 10%).

Analyses used hierarchal regression adjusting for provider's sex, panel size, and duration of participati…

Reviewing Author

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Caring for CVD Outpatients: Data on Quality of Care and Provider Type

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Reviewing Author