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Updated: May 16, 2026

A Novel Digital Platform for a Monitored Home-based Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
Published on: April 19, 2019
[Cardiac rehabilitation deserves higher priority]
1Máxima Medisch Centrum, afd. Cardiologie, Veldhoven, the Netherlands. h.kemps@mmc.nl
Insights
Participation and quality in Dutch cardiac rehabilitation programs are insufficient. Increased priority, funding, and research into non-attendance are crucial for improving cardiac rehabilitation uptake.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Public Health
- Healthcare Management
Context:
- A Dutch Health Inspectorate report highlights inadequate participation and quality in national cardiac rehabilitation programs.
- Current cardiac rehabilitation services face challenges in meeting patient needs and quality standards.
Purpose:
- To address the critical issues of low participation and quality in Dutch cardiac rehabilitation.
- To advocate for increased prioritization and resource allocation for cardiac rehabilitation.
Summary:
- The report indicates that both participation rates and program quality in Dutch cardiac rehabilitation are suboptimal.
- Addressing financial resource availability is essential for enhancing cardiac rehabilitation uptake.
- Further research is required to understand non-attendance drivers in specific demographics like women and elderly patients.
Impact:
- Recommends healthcare professionals, hospitals, and insurers prioritize cardiac rehabilitation.
- Suggests that evaluating centers by uptake rate is currently not meaningful due to lack of target values.
- Emphasizes the need for targeted interventions to improve access and outcomes for underrepresented groups.
Abstract:
A report from the Dutch Health Inspectorate states that both the participation rates and the quality of Dutch cardiac rehabilitation programs are inadequate. Therefore health care professionals, hospitals and health care insurers should give cardiac rehabilitation a higher priority. An elementary requirement to increase cardiac rehabilitation uptake is the availability of sufficient financial resources. In addition, more research is needed to unravel the causal mechanisms of non-attendance in subgroups with low cardiac rehabilitation uptake rates, such as women and elderly patients. Given the uncertainty about a realistic target value, evaluating cardiac rehabilitation centres on cardiac rehabilitation uptake rate does not seem meaningful at this stage.
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