AHRQ Initiative to Assist Hospitals With Cardiac Rehabilitation Referrals, Enrollment, Retention

The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is launching an initiative designed to assist hospitals and health systems in increasing cardiac rehabilitation referrals, enrollment and retention.

Th national TAKEheart initiative will support hospitals in implementing automatic referral processes with care coordination to improve their rates of referral to cardiac rehabilitation to drive better outcomes for patients.

On its web site, AHRQ notes that participation in cardiac rehabilitation can help reduce symptoms and other cardiac episodes, improve adherence with preventive medications, and improve the health and quality of life of cardiac patients. This improvement in clinical outcomes translates into a reduction in length-of-stay, readmissions and the use of other medical services. In fact, evidence shows that patient participation in cardiac rehabilitation reduces cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality by approximately 20 percent, reduces risk of hospital admissions by 28 percent and reduces risk for long-term readmissions by 25 percent.

Hospitals chosen to become a TAKEheart partner hospital will receive step-by-step training on implementing a proven means of increasing cardiac rehabilitation among its eligible patients. Hospitals participating in this program will receive at no cost:

• Individualized coaching and technical support in developing your own action plan for increasing cardiac rehabilitation referral, enrollment and retention;
• Access to a high-impact, 12-month virtual training program providing guidance on how to implement an evidence-based strategy (automatic referral with patient care coordination support) to achieve this goal;
 • Insights from leading cardiac rehabilitation experts; and
 • Peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, coaching and tools.

All hospitals interested in pursuing the implementation of a cardiac rehabilitation referral pathway that includes an automatic referral process with care coordination support are eligible to apply for participation, but space in the program is limited. Interested hospitals must apply by Oct. 15, 2019. Hospitals will be notified of admission by Nov. 1, 2019. The program begins in January 2020. 

Hospital executives can submit an application at https://cma.ahrq.gov/takeheart