In this episode of Beatwise The Podcast, I speak with Helen Kilminster - Senior Pharmacist ACP and Deputy PCN Clinical Director -  about a part of heart failure care that is often overlooked: coding. We explore a part of heart failure care that is often overlooked: coding. Not as an administrative task - but as something that directly shapes patient outcomes. Because if heart failure isn’t coded accurately, it often isn’t fully visible. Patients are missed, risk isn’t under-recognised, and opportunities for earlier intervention are lost.

We discuss how coding underpins everything from diagnosis to commissioning - and why small inconsistencies in how heart failure is recorded can have system-wide consequences. Helen shares how practices are identifying missed patients through NT-proBNP testing and case-finding, how coding supports risk stratification alongside comorbidities, and why clearer communication between cardiology and primary care is essential.

We also explore the challenges of inconsistent terminology, and the importance of correctly coding NICE-defined heart failure subtypes - HFrEF, mildly reduced EF, and HFpEF - to ensure patients receive appropriate care.

Key issues addressed:

• Why heart failure coding directly affects diagnosis and outcomes
• How GP coding systems work in practice
• The problem of inconsistent terminology across care settings
• Why NICE heart failure subtypes need to be clearly coded
• Using NT-proBNP and case-finding to identify missed patients
• How coding informs funding, commissioning, and service design
• Tools to support better coding
• The role of communication between primary and secondary care

This episode is produced in collaboration with the British Society for Heart Failure.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

00:00 Why coding matters

01:40 How GP coding works

04:33 Finding missed heart failure

06:20 Sharing codes across care

08:27 Contracts and subtypes

11:49 Defining heart failure types

13:48 Tools for better coding

17:35 Funding and commissioning

23:54 NHS reform and teams

28:59 Patient impact and equity

33:23 Practical coding tips

37:05 Final takeaways

FURTHER LEARNING:

• NICE Guidance
• OpenPrescribing
• OpenCodelists
• British Society for Heart Failure

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