# Improving diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in primary care.

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2024 · $168,176

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 Heart failure affects 6 million people in the US, resulting on 1 million hospitalizations and a cost of over $30
billion per year. Heart failure with preserved election fraction (HFpEF) accounts for half of these cases, and its
prevalence is rising by 1% annually. About 20-30% of HFpEF cases remain undiagnosed, contributing to poor
health outcomes for these patients. Preliminary data suggest that primary care providers (PCPs) are often
unaware of diagnostic and treatment guidelines for HFpEF. At the same time, primary care has an invaluable
potential to improve HFpEF health outcomes by facilitating early diagnosis, referral to cardiology, and treating
HFpEF comorbidities. The objective of this proposal is to design and test a novel intervention that will educate
PCPs about HFpEF and provide them with a clinical diagnostic decision support aide (CDDSA) that is based on
a validated diagnostic score for HFpEF. The overall hypothesis of this project is that if PCPs can detect HFpEF
earlier, and therefore, refer patients to cardiology, and manage their comorbidities, it can help improve outcomes
in HFpEF. Building on established community-academic collaborations, this project will be conducted with the
help of the Alabama Practice-Based Research Network (APBRN). This project will include identification of
provider barriers to HFpEF diagnosis among PCPs via an interview and a survey that will measure the
prevalence of HFpEF knowledge gaps and preferences for an intervention (Aim 1); a stakeholder-engaged
process to design an educational session and CDDSA to optimize HFpEF diagnosis in primary care (Aim 2); and
a pilot study to test the feasibility and acceptability of the CDDSA (Aim 3). At the completion of the pilot study in
Aim 3, the intervention will be ready to be tested at a larger scale (e.g., R-series grant) to evaluate its efficacy.
The candidate for this career development award, Yulia Khodneva, MD, PhD, is a general internist with expertise
in clinical medicine, epidemiology, and health services research. This award will enable her to gain skills
necessary for her transition to independence focusing her research on improving healthcare delivery, and
outcomes for HFpEF patients. Specifically, Dr. Khodneva will receive training in intervention development,
implementation science, and conducting of pragmatic clinical trials, designed to improve healthcare delivery and
outcomes for HFpEF patients. Dr. Khodneva will be mentored by two NHLBI-funded physician- investigators,
Andrea Cherrington, MD (primary mentor; expert in intervention development and pragmatic clinical trials),
Pankaj Arora, MD, (co-mentor; expert in HFpEF diagnosis and HFpEF echocardiography), and Larry Hearld,
PhD (co-mentor; expert in implementation science). The combination of mentorship, formal coursework, and the
proposed experiential learning during the project’s 5-year integrated training and research plan will position Dr.
Khodneva to become an independent inve...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10914287
- **Project number:** 5K23HL165037-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** Yulia Khodneva
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $168,176
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-25 → 2028-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10914287

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10914287, Improving diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in primary care. (5K23HL165037-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10914287. Licensed CC0.

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