Heart Failure and Cardiac Rehab: A New Treatment Option

Approximately 5.1 million Americans currently have heart failure.  Of these 5.1 million people, almost half will die within 5 years of diagnosis.  The cost of heart failure in the U.S. is estimated at $32 billion dollars a year ("Heart Failure Facts," 2013, para. 2).

The recent addition of heart failure as a covered diagnosis for cardiac rehab by CMS has prompted the development of this site.  Whereas previously covered criteria are very straightforward, the heart failure criteria can be confusing and open to interpretation.

The goal of this website is to help other cardiac rehab professionals understand heart failure, heart failure and exercise and CMS guidelines and criteria for heart failure patients in cardiac rehab.

 
Reference:
Heart failure fact sheet. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/docs/fs_heart_failure.pdf

Reviewed 1/2015