{
  "release_id": "73130c34862e2d06",
  "id": "cardio:guide-getting-into-cardiac-rehab",
  "owner": "cardio",
  "kind": "patient_guide",
  "slug": "getting-into-cardiac-rehab",
  "name": "Getting into cardiac rehab",
  "aliases": [],
  "atlases": [
    "cardio"
  ],
  "summary_plain": "What cardiac rehab is, who MedlinePlus says it is for, what one review of trials found, how many eligible Medicare patients took part in one study, and questions to ask a care team.",
  "summary_technical": "A static guide to cardiac rehab, written from four public sources. It gives no advice for one reader.",
  "editorial_state": "draft",
  "last_substantive_edit": "2026-10-15",
  "last_evidence_check": "2026-10-15",
  "next_review_due": "2027-04-15",
  "identifiers": [],
  "navigation": {
    "cardio": {
      "condition-area": [
        "acute-care-and-long-term-living"
      ]
    }
  },
  "payload": {
    "purpose": "preparing_for_care",
    "audience": "Adults with a heart condition or a recent heart event, and the people with them",
    "about": [
      "cardio:cardiac-rehabilitation",
      "cardio:bottleneck-low-cardiac-rehab-participation",
      "cardio:reading-path-living-well"
    ],
    "reading_grade_target": 9,
    "scope_note": "Written from a US government health page, a review of trials, a study of Medicare records and a toolkit for hospitals. It describes what these sources say and gives no advice for one person.",
    "warning_blocks": [],
    "sections": [
      {
        "heading": "What cardiac rehab is",
        "statements": [
          {
            "id": "what-1",
            "text": "Cardiac rehabilitation, called rehab for short, is a medically supervised program.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:medlineplus-cardiacrehabilitation-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Summary, para 1"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "what-2",
            "text": "MedlinePlus gives its goal as helping people return to an active life and lowering the chance of further heart problems.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:medlineplus-cardiacrehabilitation-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Summary, para 2, sentence 1"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "what-3",
            "text": "A team of specialists creates the plan.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:medlineplus-cardiacrehabilitation-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Summary, para 2, sentence 2"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "what-4",
            "text": "The program also teaches how to lower risk factors such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, depression and diabetes.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:medlineplus-cardiacrehabilitation-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Summary, para 2, sentence 3"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "heading": "Who MedlinePlus says rehab is for",
        "statements": [
          {
            "id": "who-1",
            "text": "MedlinePlus says rehab is a program to help people who have had a heart attack, angioplasty or bypass surgery for coronary heart disease, or heart valve repair or replacement.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:medlineplus-cardiacrehabilitation-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Summary, para 1 and list items 1 to 3"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "who-2",
            "text": "MedlinePlus also names a heart or lung transplant, angina and heart failure.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:medlineplus-cardiacrehabilitation-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Summary, para 1 and list items 4 to 6"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "heading": "What one review of rehab trials found",
        "statements": [
          {
            "id": "ev-1",
            "text": "A Cochrane review combined 85 trials of exercise-based rehab with 23,430 people who had coronary heart disease.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cochrane-cr-mi-cabg-short-term"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "ev-2",
            "text": "Most of the people in these trials had a heart attack or a procedure to restore blood flow to the heart.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cochrane-cr-mi-cabg-short-term"
              },
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:pubmed-34741536-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 6"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "ev-3",
            "text": "Women made up fewer than 15% of the people in these trials.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:pubmed-34741536-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 7"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "ev-4",
            "text": "At 6 to 12 months, the review found fewer heart attacks with rehab than with no exercise, and rated this result high certainty.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cochrane-cr-mi-cabg-short-term"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "ev-5",
            "text": "At 6 to 12 months, it also found, with moderate certainty, that rehab likely lowers hospital admissions for any cause by a large amount.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cochrane-cr-mortality-hospitalisation-short-term"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "ev-6",
            "text": "At 6 to 12 months, it found, with moderate certainty, a likely slight drop in deaths from any cause, but the range of possible results included no effect.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cochrane-cr-mortality-hospitalisation-short-term"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "ev-7",
            "text": "At 6 to 12 months, the review found, with moderate certainty, that rehab likely made little to no difference in deaths from heart and blood vessel causes.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cochrane-cr-mortality-hospitalisation-short-term"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "ev-8",
            "text": "At 6 to 12 months, it was unsure about the effect on hospital admissions for heart and blood vessel problems, a result it rated low certainty.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cochrane-cr-cv-hospitalisation-short-term"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "ev-9",
            "text": "From more than 12 to 36 months, the review said there may be little to no difference in deaths from any cause, heart attacks and hospital admissions for any cause, but it found a large drop in deaths from heart and blood vessel causes.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cochrane-cr-longer-term"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "ev-10",
            "text": "After more than 3 years, the review said rehab may make little to no difference in deaths from any cause but may lower deaths from heart and blood vessel causes and heart attacks by a large amount, results it did not rate for certainty.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cochrane-cr-longer-term"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "heading": "Taking part in rehab: a 2016 Medicare study",
        "statements": [
          {
            "id": "part-1",
            "text": "A study of Medicare records found that 24.4% of people in traditional (fee-for-service) Medicare who were eligible for rehab in 2016 attended at least one session.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cr-participation-medicare-2016"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "part-2",
            "text": "Of those who took part, 26.9% completed rehab, which the study defined as attending 36 or more sessions.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cr-participation-medicare-2016"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "part-3",
            "text": "In that study, participation was lower among women (18.9%) than among men (28.6%).",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cr-participation-medicare-2016"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "part-4",
            "text": "In that study, participation was lower among Hispanic people (13.2%) and non-Hispanic Black people (13.6%) than among non-Hispanic white people (25.8%).",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cr-participation-medicare-2016"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "part-5",
            "text": "In that study, participation ranged from 7.1% after a heart attack hospital stay without a procedure to 55.3% after bypass surgery alone.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cr-participation-medicare-2016"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "part-6",
            "text": "A Million Hearts road map set a goal of raising participation to 70% or more by 2022.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "claim": "cardio:claim-cr-participation-medicare-2016"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "heading": "What hospitals can do to raise use",
        "statements": [
          {
            "id": "mh-1",
            "text": "A Million Hearts toolkit for cardiac rehab aims to help hospital and rehab teams improve care for more eligible patients.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:millionhearts-cardiac-change-package-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "What Is the CRCP, para 5"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "mh-2",
            "text": "Its second edition, published in 2023, adds new content on referring patients to rehab automatically unless they decline, with help to coordinate their care.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:millionhearts-cardiac-change-package-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "What Is the CRCP, para 6, sentence 2"
              },
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:millionhearts-cardiac-change-package-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "What Is the CRCP, para 6, bullet 4"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "checklists": [
      {
        "heading": "Parts of a rehab plan, as MedlinePlus lists them",
        "items": [
          {
            "id": "plan-1",
            "text": "The plan includes exercise training.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:medlineplus-cardiacrehabilitation-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Summary, para 2, sentence 2"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "plan-2",
            "text": "The plan includes education on heart healthy living.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:medlineplus-cardiacrehabilitation-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Summary, para 2, sentence 2"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "id": "plan-3",
            "text": "The plan includes counseling to reduce stress.",
            "cites": [
              {
                "snapshot_id": "cardio:medlineplus-cardiacrehabilitation-2026-10-15",
                "locator": "Summary, para 2, sentence 2"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "questions": [
      {
        "text": "Is my heart condition or procedure one of those the sources list for rehab?",
        "grounded_in": [
          "who-1",
          "who-2"
        ]
      },
      {
        "text": "If nobody has mentioned rehab, can my care team say whether I qualify and how to get a referral?",
        "grounded_in": [
          "part-1",
          "mh-2"
        ]
      },
      {
        "text": "Does this hospital refer eligible patients to rehab automatically?",
        "grounded_in": [
          "mh-2"
        ]
      },
      {
        "text": "What would my own rehab plan include, and who would be on the team?",
        "grounded_in": [
          "what-3",
          "plan-1",
          "plan-2",
          "plan-3"
        ]
      },
      {
        "text": "How many sessions make up a full program here?",
        "grounded_in": [
          "part-2"
        ]
      },
      {
        "text": "Does the review of rehab trials include people with my kind of heart condition?",
        "grounded_in": [
          "ev-1",
          "ev-2"
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "content_digest": "baab90cf3ef0fb4d4c249dc6af1cfac0b4ee3fc9a540db2cfeecbf1cf8cee7f1",
  "review": {
    "content_digest": "baab90cf3ef0fb4d4c249dc6af1cfac0b4ee3fc9a540db2cfeecbf1cf8cee7f1",
    "current": [],
    "conflicting": [],
    "stale": [],
    "inactive": []
  },
  "claims": [],
  "decisions": [],
  "milestones": [],
  "relationships": {
    "outgoing": [],
    "incoming": []
  },
  "page_path": "guides/getting-into-cardiac-rehab/",
  "context_path": "api/v1/context/cardio--guide-getting-into-cardiac-rehab.md"
}