Heart Failure
❤️ Cardiovascular
FFH Network × American Heart Association × [Your Cardiology / Primary Care Clinic]
💔 Force Field Fact Sheet · Heart Failure

Build Your Force Field for Heart Failure

A one-page primer on heart failure — the #1 most expensive Medicare readmission pattern, but also largely preventable through medication adherence, sodium restriction, and weight monitoring. Sixteen squares of essential knowledge, skills, resources and actions. Read it cold. Click any square to go deeper. Earn your Certified Prepared Patient · Heart Failure badge by completing the full course.

Tell Me So I Can Understand

If you ever need to explain your Heart Failure in 30 seconds — to a coworker, partner, teacher, coach, or stranger with you when something happens — start with this.

“I have heart failure. My heart pumps less efficiently than it should, so I track my weight, watch my fluid and salt, and take medications every day. I wanted you to know because if I’m suddenly more short of breath, gaining weight fast, or can’t sleep flat, that’s a real warning sign — please help me call my team. If I have chest pain or can’t catch my breath at rest, call 911.”

Four-beat structure: name it · explain it in one plain sentence · why you’re sharing · what you want them to do. Use your own words. Three pocket versions for specific people are at the bottom.

📋 Open the Prepared Visit Tool Take the Heart Failure Course → Talk to Your Care Team →
🧍
Patient

Live with heart failure day-to-day.

👨‍👩‍👧
Family / Caregiver

Support someone with heart failure.

💼
Employer / HR / School

Accommodate, support a teammate.

🎓
Health Student

Phlebotomy, nursing, MA, learner.

🎯Three Phases · One Force Field

Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. They tell you what kind of square you’re reading: a concept to understand, a habit to live, or a way to share what you’ve learned. Where you actually track personal progress is your Prepared Patient Course (modules completed) and the Skills Lab (skills signed off). Inside each square’s detail panel, the four sections — Concepts · Skills · Actions · Plan — are the building blocks of these phases. Read each square with that ladder in mind.

📘 Learn It Content type

Identity earned: Self-Advocate. The "know" — head knowledge, definitions, mental model of SCD and its red flags.

Concepts
→

🛠 Live It Content type

Identity earned: Care-Team Member. The "do" — daily skills you can demonstrate and this-week actions that turn skills into habits.

SkillsActions
→

🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares

Click any square to open its detail panel. Each square is a tile in your shield. Keep clicking, learning, and acting — your Force Field gets stronger every step.

Primer What This Is Read it cold and you'll know what it is.
1💔

What Is Heart Failure?

The heart can't pump or fill efficiently → fluid backs up, organs starve. ~6.7M U.S. adults. The #1 most expensive Medicare readmission pattern — and the most preventable with daily self-management.

Primer
2❤️

HFrEF vs HFpEF
Two Faces of HF

HFrEF = ejection fraction ≤40% (weak pump). HFpEF = EF ≥50% (stiff fill). HFmrEF = 41–49%. Different first-line meds; same daily self-management.

Anatomy
3👥

Who Gets It?

Risk rises with age, prior MI, uncontrolled HTN, T2D, CKD, A-fib, OSA, valve disease, family history. Most HF develops on top of years of unmanaged cardiovascular risk.

Primer
4📊

The Numbers

~6.7M U.S. adults. ~25% 30-day readmission rate — most expensive Medicare condition. Median survival improves dramatically with the four pillars + daily weight + cardiac rehab.

Primer
Learn It Condition Literacy Identity earned: Self-Advocate (Content type)
5⚖️

Daily Weight — The Cornerstone

Same time, same scale, after voiding, before breakfast. Track daily. Catches fluid retention 24–72 hours before you feel short of breath. The single highest-leverage HF self-management habit.

Learn It
6⚕️

Master the Four Pillars (HFrEF)

ARNi (or ACE/ARB) + beta-blocker + MRA (spironolactone) + SGLT2 inhibitor. Each pillar adds independent mortality benefit. All four together > any one alone — guideline-directed medical therapy.

Learn It
7🚨

The 3-and-5 Rule

Weight gain >3 lb in 2 days OR >5 lb in 7 days = call your team SAME DAY. Catches decompensation early, usually a diuretic adjustment. Skipping this is the #1 path to readmission.

Learn It
8🍽

Sodium <2 g/day · Fluid Limit

Sodium <2 g/day (most-missed lever). Restaurant meals = 1500–3000 mg. Read labels. Fluid often capped ~2 L/day per team. Dry mouth ≠ dehydration in HF — check before drinking more.

Learn It
Live It Care & System Literacy Identity earned: Care-Team Member (Content type)
9📋

HF Action Plan — Every Visit

Yellow zone (3-and-5, increased SOB, new orthopnea, swelling) → extra diuretic per plan + call team. Red zone (severe SOB at rest, pink frothy sputum, lightheaded, chest pain) → 911. Bring your weight log to every visit.

Live It
10💪

Cardiac Rehab — Underused

36 supervised exercise + education sessions. Medicare-covered. Dramatically reduces readmissions, improves quality of life and survival. The most-underutilized HF intervention. Ask for a referral.

Live It
11📱

Remote Monitoring & Tech

Bluetooth scale → MyChart, weight + symptom apps, HF-clinic RN navigator review between visits. CardioMEMS implanted PA-pressure monitor for select advanced HF. Most check-ins can be virtual.

Tech
12🩺

Care Team & Comorbidities

PCP + cardiologist + HF specialist + HF-clinic RN navigator + pharmacist + RD + cardiac rehab + behavioral health. Treat the cluster: A-fib (50%+), T2D, CKD, OSA, iron deficiency, depression.

Live It
Share It Advocacy & Ambassadorship Identity earned: Ambassador (Content type)
13👨‍👩‍👧

Family Catches Signs First

HF patients often miss their own early decompensation. A trained family member who weighs you in + watches for SOB / new pillows at night / leg swelling is pivotal. Share the 3-and-5 rule.

Share It
14🎤

Teach, Mentor, Ambassador

Teach your family the four pillars + daily weight + the 3-and-5 rule. Mentor a newly-diagnosed neighbor through their first 90 days. Speak at cardiac-rehab graduations.

Share It
15📨

Advance Care Planning

HF prognosis is variable but real. Have the goals-of-care conversation early — what matters to you, what you don't want, who decides if you can't. Document in advance directives.

Share It
16🔬

Join the ROI Study

PHIT — Population Health Impact Tracking. Aggregate & anonymous. Help prove this program reduces HF readmissions, ED visits, and total cost of care for Banner's HF population.

Study

🩺 Hand-off to my Clinician

Print and bring to your next visit. This page tells your care team what you have prepared for, what you want to focus on, and how you would like to participate as an active member of the team.

  • I am a Prepared Patient in training for Heart Failure. I have reviewed all 16 squares of this Force Field Fact Sheet.
  • I have started building my Health Passport, my Red Flag list, and my 2-week home BP log to bring to every visit.
  • I want to teach back what I have learned and have you correct anything I have misunderstood — especially around my BP goal, my med plan, and when to call vs. when to go to the ED.
What helps my visit

Two minutes for me to teach back. One question I prepared. My home BP log on my phone. Confirm my goal BP on the chart.

What I am working on

Hitting my BP goal · medication adherence · DASH-style eating · home cuff technique · sleep / sleep apnea screen · stroke-risk awareness (especially if I also have SCD or diabetes).

How I want to participate

Shared decisions. Full med list before changes. Tell me your top 1–2 priorities so we agree. Use the AHRQ SHARE Approach. Help me see my numbers, not just my prescription.

🔬 Help Prove This Works — Join the FFH ROI & PHIT Study

The Prepared Patient program is being studied to see whether better preparation actually reduces ER visits, hospital stays, and total cost of care — for you and for the people in your circle of influence. Your participation is voluntary, your data is aggregated and anonymized, and you can withdraw at any time.

✓
Yes — I want to be counted. I agree to share aggregate, de-identified outcomes (visits, admissions, self-reported quality of life, badge progress) with the FFH ROI Engine and PHIT research collaborative for the purpose of validating this program. I understand I will receive periodic summaries and can opt out by emailing research@theforceforhealth.com.
✓ Thank you — you're enrolled. We'll email you a confirmation and study ID.

➕ Add-On Force Field Card · Device or Skill Mastery

If your care plan adds a medical device or new skill, bolt on a 5-step Add-On Card. For HF common bolt-ons include: daily home weight scale (Bluetooth → MyChart), sodium label-reading + cooking, fluid-intake tracking, cardiac rehab (36 sessions), CPAP onboarding (if sleep apnea), implanted PA-pressure monitor (CardioMEMS for advanced HF), weekly med review.

1
Introduce

What it is, why it matters, what it does

2
Coach

Watch a demo + walk-through

3
Practice

Do it with a coach watching

4
Train

Use it daily with a check-in

5
Test

Demonstrate competence + earn badge

Ready to go deeper?

The Prepared Patient · Heart Failure course turns this fact sheet into a guided journey: pre/post knowledge checks, teach-back, daily-weight technique, four-pillar adherence training, badge tests, and your printable Health Passport. Earn Aware → Active → Certified.

Open the Full Course →

📖 Square

Tier · Stamp

Detail copy goes here.

Concepts Learn It

What you need to know.

    Skills Live It

    What you can do.

      Actions Live It

      What you do this week.

        Plan

        How you carry it forward.

          🧍 Patient

          👨‍👩‍👧 Family

          💼 Employer

          🎓 Student

          Open in Prepared Patient course →
          How to Talk to Your Care Team

          Three things to learn before you actually need them: when to use which door, how to describe a symptom, and what good questions look like.

          This is the teaching. The fillable forms, editable question lists, printable summaries, and post-visit teach-back live in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers live in your Prepared Patient Course.

          When something happens — which door do I use?

          Heart failure is about trends. Daily weights and breath are how you catch trouble early.

          1

          Handle at home

          • Weight stable; usual ankle puffiness at end of day
          • Mild shortness of breath only with effort, same as your baseline
          • Slept one bed-pillow as usual

          Log it. Keep your meds, fluid, and salt on track.

          2

          Call the office / message the portal

          • Weight up 2-3 lb above your dry weight
          • Adding a pillow to sleep
          • Need to slow down to breathe earlier than usual
          • Running low on diuretic or other heart-failure meds

          Same day. Often a small diuretic adjustment fixes it before it grows.

          3

          Urgent / Acute care

          • Weight up 3-5 lb in a few days
          • Sleeping in a chair to breathe
          • Swelling that’s spreading up your legs
          • Marked fatigue, can’t do usual activities

          Urgent care or office urgent slot. Bring your weight log.

          4

          ER NOW / call 911

          • Severe shortness of breath at rest or new chest pain
          • Coughing up pink frothy sputum
          • Fast or irregular heart racing with lightheadedness
          • Confusion, fainting, or near-fainting
          • Stroke signs (FAST)

          Call 911. Heart failure exacerbations can become emergencies fast.

          How to tell your doctor about a new symptom in 30 seconds

          Six questions clinicians listen for every time. Give all six and you cut their detective work in half.

          1
          What is it?

          The sensation in plain words.

          2
          How bad?

          0-10 or compare to your worst.

          3
          When did it start?

          Date, time, what you were doing.

          4
          What made it worse?

          Movement · food · meds · rest.

          5
          What helped?

          What brought it down even a little.

          6
          What else was new?

          Fever, new med, new supplement, alcohol, stress. The thing you almost forget to mention is usually the thing that changes the diagnosis.

          Worked example — the Heart Failure version

          “My breathing got worse over 4 days, it’s a 6, worse when I lie flat, two pillows helps a little, and I’ve been up 3 pounds since the weekend after eating out twice.”

          Questions worth asking — what good questions look like

          Read them so you know what a strong question sounds like. When you’re actually preparing for a visit, the Prepared Visit Tool lets you check the ones you want, write your own, and print or send them to the portal.

          Four that apply to every patient, every condition, every visit:

          1. “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
          2. “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
          3. “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
          4. “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”

          Questions specifically for Heart Failure

          1. “What’s my dry weight target — and at what gain do you want me to call?”
          2. “Am I on guideline-directed medical therapy — ACE/ARB/ARNI, beta-blocker, MRA, SGLT2?”
          3. “Is my ejection fraction the same as last time — and what would change my plan?”
          4. “Am I a candidate for cardiac rehab, an ICD, or advanced therapies?”
          5. “What’s our sick-day plan if I get a respiratory infection?”
          What to Tell People in Your Life

          Three pocket versions of your “Tell Me So I Can Understand” — for specific people, specific moments.

          Same four beats: name it · explain it · why you’re sharing · what you want them to do. Tuned for who you’re talking to.

          💼

          For a coworker or boss

          “I have heart failure. Most days you wouldn’t know. If I say I’m really short of breath or need to sit, please take it seriously — don’t wave it off as out-of-shape. I’m on medication and managing it daily.”
          👫

          For a partner or housemate

          “I have heart failure. My medications are in [where]. The scale is in [where] — weight is part of my plan. If I’m suddenly very short of breath, sleeping in a chair, or coughing up pink frothy stuff, call 911. My cardiologist’s on-call number is [number].”
          🚑

          For a first responder or ER team

          “I have heart failure. Ejection fraction is [%]. My current meds are [list]. My dry weight is [lb]. I’m allergic to [allergies]. My cardiologist is at [name · phone].”

          📋 Want this card built for you — with your medications, allergies, and care team already filled in? Take the Prepared Patient · Heart Failure course and we’ll build you a personalized Emergency Card — print-ready, phone-ready, wallet-sized.