Establishing a National Quality of Care Framework for Heart Failure in Korea: Keep Standards for Heart Failure (KSHF) Initiative

초록

Heart failure (HF) continues to pose a significant public health burden in Korea, marked by increasing prevalence, hospitalizations, and healthcare costs. Although advances in guideline-di- rected medical therapy (GDMT) have improved patient prognosis, a persistent gap between evidence-based guidelines and real-world practice hinders optimal patient outcomes. To address this challenge, the Korean Society of Heart Failure launched the Keep Standards for Heart Fail- ure (KSHF) initiative to enhance the quality of care (QoC) for individuals with HF. This initiative combines registry-based and non-registry approaches, including the development of structured educational programs, a standardized discharge checklist, and the implementation of the KSHF- QoC registry. The registry is designed to systematically evaluate HF management across diverse healthcare settings by analyzing prescription trends, treatment adherence, and patient-centered outcomes. Unlike earlier registries that focused primarily on acute HF in tertiary care centers managed by HF specialists, the KSHF-QoC registry broadens its scope to include general cardi- ologists, thereby offering a more comprehensive and representative assessment of routine care. Through continuous monitoring of QoC indicators, benchmarking across institutions, and struc- tured performance feedback, the KSHF initiative aims to improve GDMT adherence, optimize HF care delivery, and reduce readmission rates. These efforts represent a critical advancement toward standardizing HF management and improving long-term outcomes for patients in Korea.

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