Profile of Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure Who Leave Against Medical Advice

Background: There is a paucity of information on patients hospitalized with heart failure (HF) who leave against medical advice (AMA). We sought to identify patient and hospital characteristics and outcomes of patients with HF who left AMA compared with those conventionally discharged to home.

Methods and results: Using the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure registry, data were analyzed from January 2010 to June 2019. In addition, outcomes were examined from a subset of hospitalizations with Medicare-linked claims between January 2010 and November 2015. The fully eligible population included 561,823 patients and the Medicare-linked subset included 74,502 patients. In total, 8747 patients (1.56%) left AMA. The proportion of patients leaving AMA increased from 1.1% to 2.1% over the years of study. Patients leaving a HF hospitalization AMA, compared with patients conventionally discharged to home, were more likely younger, minorities, Medicaid covered, or uninsured. The Medicare-linked subset of patients who left AMA had substantially higher 30-day and 12-month readmission rates and higher mortality at each assessment point over 12 months compared with patients who were conventionally discharged to home. After risk adjustments, the hazard ratio of mortality in the Medicare-linked subset AMA group compared with the conventionally discharged to home group was 1.25 (95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.51; P = .005).

Conclusions: One in 64 hospitalized patients with HF left AMA. An AMA discharge status was associated with higher risk for adverse 30-day and 12-month outcomes compared with being conventionally discharged home. Strategies that identify patients at risk of leaving AMA and policies to direct interventional strategies are warranted.