Cardiac Recovery Through Dietary Support

The San Francisco Department of Public Health, University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), and Project Open Hand (POH), a community based organization in San Francisco which provides meals and groceries to chronically ill clients in the Bay Area, have partnered to conduct a prospective, randomized, wait-list controlled study examining the impact of providing medically appropriate meals and registered dietician (RD) support to patients discharged from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital after acute decompensated heart failure. Before discharge, patients will be randomized to either the intervention or wait list control arm. The intervention consists of the delivery of medically appropriate meals and/or groceries to participants' homes in a tapered manner over five months (the equivalent of three meals a day for 60 days, then the equivalent of two meals a day for 30 days, then the equivalent of one meal a day for 60 days) and monthly nutrition education with a registered dietician (RD). All food and nutritional education are administered by POH staff and RDs. Participants randomized into the wait list control arm will receive the food intervention five months after discharge. The study's primary aim is to examine the impact of nutritional support on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire scores. In addition, the study aims to examine the impact of nutritional support on healthcare utilization (particularly readmission rates and emergency room utilization), dietary change, medication adherence, and quality of life. The investigators will assess outcomes at baseline while patients are hospitalized, 1 month after discharge, and 5 months after discharge using quantitative surveys. The investigators will call participants at 3 months and 4 months after discharge with a shorter quantitative survey assessing a subset of outcome measures. In addition, the investigators will conduct a qualitative interview near the conclusion of the intervention in a subset of participants to understand perceived impacts of the intervention as well as barriers and facilitators to heart failure care.