This is a patient-randomized clinical study consisting of patients who present to the ED requiring treatment and/or admission for HF. At each site, patients will be randomized into either a control arm or an experimental arm. Serial blood samples will be collected from all patients throughout their stay in the ED and the hospital. In the experimental arm, the Triage® BNP test will be performed on all blood samples collected and each BNP result will be made available to the attending physicians immediately. In the control arm, blood samples will not be analyzed on-site for BNP but instead sent directly to Biosite Inc. for testing.A comparison will be made between the control and experimental arms of the study to determine if there are any significant differences in length of stay, re-hospitalizations, all cause mortality, BNP levels, quality of life, and costs to treat patients.
