East Alabama Health Selected to Participate in TAKEheart

East Alabama Health was selected to participate in TAKEheart, a national initiative funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to increase cardiac rehabilitation referrals, enrollment, and retention. This quality improvement program focuses on two proven practices: automatic referral of patients and care coordination for referred patients. As a TAKEheart partner hospital, staff will receive training, coaching and technical support, and shared learning from cardiac rehabilitation experts and peers.

Approximately one million Americans have a coronary event or surgery each year, but currently, only one in five are referred to cardiac rehabilitation. Among Medicare-eligible heart attack patients, only 6.5 percent complete the recommended cardiac rehabilitation sessions.

Cardiac rehabilitation is a combination of medical care and counseling to improve cardiovascular health after a heart attack, heart failure, angioplasty, or heart surgery has taken place. It may include exercise counseling and training, lifestyle education (e.g., nutrition and reducing risk factors), and efforts to manage stress. People who have cardiac rehabilitation after a heart episode have lower mortality rates, fewer hospital admissions and readmissions, and their quality of life improves.

“Participating in TAKEheart means bringing best practices and strategies to East Alabama Health and those we care for,” noted Kathe Briggs, East Alabama Health director of Cardiac Rehabilitation. “We’re looking forward to implementing automatic referral processes with care coordination because we know that more patients will engage in cardiac rehabilitation and live longer and healthier after an acute heart episode.”