McCullough PA, Mehta HS, Barker CM, et al. - Using data from the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Claims and Medicare Supplemental Databases, researchers examined medically managed heart failure (HF) patients to quantify the financial healthcare burden of mitral regurgitation (MR). The three separate cohorts of medically managed HF patients were without MR, insignificant MR, and significant MR (sMR). Compared to the no MR patients, medically managed incident HF patients with sMR had significantly more hospital days and annual expenditures. When comparing iMR and no MR, no differences were seen. The sMR patients had an approximate 50% higher HF admissions rate vs no MR patients, and HF admits for iMR were 23% greater vs those with no MR. When MR is clinically significant, utilization and financial burden are both more pronounced.