Clinical course and therapy optimisation of patients after discharge from a specialised heart failure clinic.

We aimed to describe the clinical course of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) after discharge from the heart failure clinics (HFC). We reviewed the hospital's records of 610 patients that were discharged between 2013 and 2018 from the HFC at a single centre. Patients with no recurrent contact to ambulatory cardiac care were invited to an echocardiographic assessment. Of the survivors, 72% were re-referred after discharge. Nearly 30% of the patients with no recurrent contact with ambulatory cardiac care had persistent HFrEF and further therapeutical optimisations were indicated in half of them. This highlights the importance to identify high-risk patients that would benefit from extended management in the HFC.