Dr. Clyde Yancy spoke to the financial implications of the study in an interview. He pointed out that the paradigm for exercise has long been established in the form of the cardiac rehabilitation model in which patients enroll in a program over 9–12 weeks to define a new lifestyle,” he said. “When exercise emanates from a structured rehab program, it quadruples adherence rates.
“The important question is whether the study data are sufficient to say that enrollment in a rehab program should become an evidence-based treatment strategy in heart failure. Because if it is guideline-generated then the expectation is that CMS and payers would cover the cost,” said Dr. Yancy, medical director of Baylor University, Dallas.