Effectiveness of inpatient and outpatient strategies in increasing referral and utilization of cardiac rehabilitation: a prospective, multi-site study.

Background: Despite the evidence of benefit, cardiac rehabilitation (CR) remains highly underutilized. The present study examined the effect of two inpatient and one outpatient strategy on CR utilization: allied healthcare provider completion of referral (a policy that had been endorsed and approved by the cardiac program leadership in advance; PRE-APPROVED); CR intake appointment booked before hospital discharge (PRE-BOOKED); and early outpatient education provided at the CR program shortly after inpatient discharge (EARLY ED).In this prospective observational study, 2,635 stable cardiac inpatients from 11 Ontario hospitals completed a sociodemographic survey, and clinical data were extracted from charts.