Cardiac rehab has great potential at improving health outcomes among patients with heart disease; however, we are not taking advantage of this rehab service consistently. In fact, for Medicare recipients, only 1 in 4 eligible beneficiaries participated in cardio rehab and marked disparities were observed. Disparities were observed by age, sex and race/ethnicity, so why?

There are a lot of reasons, but if you look at the disparities it could be as simple as not having a support system, transportation or feeling that they aren’t “worth” taking the time and energy for rehab. We can do better as a nation. We need to provide the support and encouragement for our residents and friends with cardiac histories, get them involved in cardio rehab, call an Uber, pick them up yourself, provide a facility van for transportation, whatever it takes!

This study proves that it is worth it and each of our residents is worth it as well! The entire study was published in the AHA Journal – Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, January 2020.