Care management for low-risk patients with heart failure: a randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Nurse care management programs for patients with chronic illness have been shown to be safe and effective.

Objective: To determine whether a telephone-mediated nurse care management program for heart failure reduced the rate of rehospitalization for heart failure and for all causes over a 1-year period.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial of usual care with nurse management versus usual care alone in patients hospitalized for heart failure from May 1998 through October 2001.