Dr. Masoudi will complete his fellowship in cardiology in June 2000, and will join the faculty as an assistant professor of Medicine in the Divisions of Cardiology and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He has completed the course requirements for the M.S.P.H. degree at the University of Colorado and has been involved with the National Hearth Failure (NHF) Project, a program sponsored by the Health Care Financing Administration to measure and improve the care of Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure. The applicant's long- term goals are to develop a career as an independent investigator in cardiovascular diseases in the older population in an academic setting. His immediate goals are to study patients from the NHF database with heart failure and preserved left ventricular systolic function (LVSF); obtain additional methodological expertise with formal course work; participate in related research in cardiovascular disease in older persons; and participate in clinical cardiology at Denver Health Medical Center. The Environment: Dr. Masoudi's research office will be in Center on Aging Research Section, which houses more than 15 health services researchers dedicated to the study of health care quality and outcomes in the older population. His research mentor is Andrew Kramer, MD, Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Director of the Center on Aging Research Section at the University of Colorado. He will work closely with geriatricians, research methodologists, cardiologists, and his co-sponsors, who are leaders on the NHF Project. The Research: Heart failure with preserved LVSF is reportedly common in the older population. In spite of its high prevalence, relatively little is known about the characteristics of these patients or their health outcomes. The objectives of the proposed research are to describe the population of older Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized across the United States with heart failure and preserved LVSF; identify the determinants of mortality and hospital readmission in this population; and compare risk-adjusted rates of mortality and hospital readmission in this population with those of patients with heart failure and impaired LSVF. To accomplish these aims, we will analyze detailed clinical information from the hospital charts of more than 20,000 patients collected as part of the NHF Project linked to the administrative data sets containing patient-level information. The results of this research will better characterize these patients, will explore the important determinants of patient outcomes, and may provide insights in the development of interventions targeted specifically at this population.
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