BACKGROUND The heart failure population is ever expanding, with about 23 million people worldwide diagnosed with heart failure. In the United States, acute heart failure (AHF) accounts for over one million hospital admissions. 1–3 Despite improvements in morbidity and mortality for patients with chronic HF with reduced EF due to pharmacological and device based therapies, rates of admission, readmission and mortality remain high. Overall, in-hospital mortality is relatively low; it is the early post-discharge period, termed the
