Fairview's new goal: Less repeat business

Since 2003, when the C.O.R.E. Clinic launched, heart-failure patients have had a 67 percent lower rehospitalization rate compared with those not in the program, according to Fairview. Last year, about 14 percent of patients with heart failure were readmitted within 30 days, compared with the national average of 25 percent. But C.O.R.E.'s five-step approach of evaluation and intensive follow-up to stay on top of symptoms has been effective enough that Fairview is in the process of rolling it out to other heart clinics, starting with the University of Minnesota Medical Center and Fairview Ridges. Officials hope it could be used as a national model.