AHRQ heart tools seek to reduce disparities

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released online tools to improve cardiac rehabilitation use. The materials include customizable training slides and implementation guides to help health systems get started in improving cardiac rehabilitation use, implement automatic referrals, enhance care coordination and implement hybrid cardiac rehabilitation to expand access and capacity. About 25% of eligible patients participate in cardiac rehabilitation, even though it saves lives. The rate is lower among Black people, rural residents and other underserved residents. (AHRQ blog, 2/21/23)