Harlan M. Krumholz

TL;DR: This study provides a context for understanding efforts to improve care in the hospital setting by describing a taxonomy for classifying and evaluating such efforts and suggests possible elements of successful efforts to increase β-blocker use for patients with AMI.

TL;DR: Admission to higher-volume hospitals was associated with a reduction in mortality for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia, although there was a volume threshold above which an increased condition-specific hospital volume was no longer significantly associated with reduced mortality.

TL;DR: The rationale and methods for Door-to-Balloon (D2B): An Alliance for Quality, an international effort organized by the American College of Cardiology in partnership with the American Heart Association and 37 other organizations to rapidly translate research about how best to achieve outstanding D2B times for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction into practice are described.

TL;DR: The phenotype of patients with heart failure changed substantially over the last 2 decades, most notably, more recent patients have a higher percentage of very old individuals, and the number of comorbidities and medications increased markedly.

TL;DR: Along with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, digoxin, and diuretics, β-blockers have strengthened the armamentarium to improve clinical outcomes of heart failure patients and must be translated into practice safely and rationally if the agents are to achieve their full potential.