Aim: To analyze the impact of implementing a program integrating cardiology and primary care in clinical practice.
Methods: In the integrated care model, every cardiologist was assigned to each primary care center.
Results & conclusion: The implementation of the new care model was associated with a significant reduction of 31.2% in requests of first visits. In addition, the delay to the cardiologist consultation significantly decreased by 54.5% for the first visits, and by 57.1% for the follow-up visits. The proportion of patients that achieved recommended low density lipoprotein-cholesterol goals significantly increased from 20.8 to 29.6%. The proportion of patients submitted to anticoagulant therapy significantly increased from 69.3 to 74.2%, as well as the proportion of patients taking direct oral anticoagulants (from 7.9 to 28.4%).
Keywords: LDL cholesterol; anticoagulation; atrial fibrillation; cardiology; healthcare levels; integration; primary care.