NICS Heart Failure Forum: improving outcomes in chronic care.

National Institute of Clinical Studies, Melbourne, VIC. Susan M Phillips, DPhil, Program Manager; Janice M Davies, PhD, Executive Officer. Cardiology Department, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW. Geoffrey H Tofler, MB BS, MD, Chair of Preventive Cardiology, University of Sydney, and Chair, Heart Failure Forum Planning Committee. Reprints will not be available from the authors. Correspondence: Dr Susan M Phillips, National Institute of Clinical Studies, Level 5, 499 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004. [email protected] The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025729X 20 September 2004 181 6 297-299 ©The Medical Journal of Australia 2004 www.mja.com.au Conference Report Geoffrey Tofler (Chair of the NICS Heart Failure Ad and Professor of Preventive Cardiology, University o the scene by highlighting gaps in the current medica heart failure. These gaps are most notable in the us based drug therapies, such as angiotensin-conve (ACE) inhibitors and β-blockers, that reduce sy hospital admissions and improve survival. Chronic c or gro ies M e than 170 clinicians from diverse healthcare backunds attended the National Institute of Clinical Stud(NICS) “Heart Failure Forum 2004: improving outcomes in chronic care”, held in Canberra, 7–8 June 2004. The purpose of the forum was to raise awareness of the growing burden of heart failure, engage with Australian and international experts in heart failure and chronic care management, and explore strategies for improving outcomes in chronic care.