Group Enrollment and Open Gym Format Decreases Cardiac Rehabilitation Wait Times.

Purpose: Wait times for the first cardiac rehabilitation (CR) session are inversely related to CR participation rates. We hypothesized that changing from individually scheduled appointments to a group enrollment and open gym format, in which patients were enrolled during group intake sessions and could arrive for subsequent CR sessions any time during open gym periods, would decrease wait times.

Methods: A total of 603 patients enrolled in CR at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from July 2012 to December 2014 were included in the study.