CMS Proposed Decision Memo for Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) Programs – Chronic Heart Failure
CHICAGO (November 22, 2013) — The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday proposed a coverage policy that would improve access to cardiac rehabilitation services by inclusion of certain Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure. Read the proposed decision memo.
Dr. Philip Ades, Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention at University of Vermont College of Medicine and lead author of a recent publication on cardiac rehabilitation exercise and self-care for chronic heart failure[1], stated, “I am extremely pleased with this decision. CMS extensively reviewed the literature and came to the same conclusion we did, which is that cardiac rehabilitation is enormously helpful for patients with CHF; it improves the quality and the quantity of life for these patients.”