The new findings in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes reveals that too few people covered by Medicare participated in outpatient cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack or acute heart event or surgery, particularly women, the elderly and non-white patients.
Every year, an estimated 1.3 million U.S. adults suffering from heart disease many qualify for cardiac rehabilitation. This number doesn’t include those with qualifying heart failure.
Outpatient cardiac rehabilitation improves health outcomes among patients who have heart failure, have suffered heart attacks or have undergone a cardiac procedure such as coronary artery bypass surgery.
The review found that out of 366,000 patients covered by Medicare who were eligible for outpatient cardiac rehabilitation in 2016, only about 25% participated in a cardiac rehabilitation program, totaling about 90,000 people.
Among those who participated in cardiac rehabilitation, only 24% began the program within 21 days of the acute cardiac event or surgery. Only about 27% completed the full course of the recommended 36 or more cardiac rehabilitation sessions, which have been shown to improve health outcomes.
In 2019, the American Heart Association issued what it called a Scientific Statement, a collaboration with the American Association for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation and the American College of Cardiology, which put down the need for and benefits of home-based cardiac rehabilitation programs to improve patient access and health outcomes.
The American Heart Association supports the Increasing Access to Cardiac Rehabilitation Care Act of 2019, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in July 2019.
The 2018 ACC/AHA Clinical Performance and Quality Measures for Cardiac Rehabilitation, published in April 2018, give a comprehensive report on the performance and quality measures that assess and improve the quality of care for patients eligible for cardiac rehabilitation.