For their study, researchers examined changes in heart failure-related hospitalization and one-year mortality rates among more than 55 million Medicare beneficiaries at U.S. acute-care hospitals.
They found overall heart failure-related hospitalization rates dropped nearly 30 percent from 1998-2008, with rates falling dramatically faster than the national rate in 16 states. One-year mortality rates declined as well but at a less profound rate, from 31.7 percent in 1999 to 29.6 percent in 2008.
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