Given I have heard much discussion around #cardiacrehabilitation (CR) programs either being under threat or closed down altogether due to #COVID19, I thought it was a good time to highlight this recent #Australian paper from Driscoll et at al (and my first , eek!) (1/)

We know that #CVD is one of the leading causes of death and mortality in . #cardiacrehabilitation is a proven efficacious intervention, with a 26% reduction in mortality & 18% reduction in readmissions for pts who participated in CR compared to those who do not (2/)

However, a recent #Australian paper by @AstleyFlind et al demonstrated only 30.2% of people were referred to CR and of those only 28.4% attended. What if uptake of #cardiacrehab could be increased – what benefits could be achieved? (3/)

Aims! Driscoll et al. set out to 1) determine cost-effectiveness of CR programs as they are currently delivered in , 2) determine health care budget that could be reallocated to CR & 3) explore how the short term cost of providing CR compares to the long term health gains (4/)

Findings (1)! Not unsurprisingly pts participating in CR experience greater health benefits over a lifetime compared to patients who do not. If uptake of CR increased to 59.6%, hospitalisations would potentially be reduced by 823 episodes with 536 fewer deaths over 10 years. (5/)

Findings (2)! An additional 438 QALYs gain for annual cohort of CR patients. $12.9 million could be reallocated within Medicare. “Additional investment in CR is a national priority particularly as the health gains for CHD patients far outweigh the costs.” @GregHuntMP @OzCvA (6/)

Advocacy! This evaluation provides important data that can be used that can be used to support the #businesscase demonstrating on return on investment in CR programs and justifying research (like mine!) on interventions to improve the uptake of CR. @heartfoundation @OzCvA (7/)

However! A #limitation was the lack of National Australian CR data which is “vital in order to truly estimate population health gains, to facilitate an improved understanding of the utilisation & uptake of CR in Australia” @OzCvA @GregHuntMP @_emma_thomas @RobynDGallagher (8/)

Fin! There is so much evidence for benefits & local #costeffectiveness of CR, it always surprises me how little CR is valued & how it is under resourced & underutilised it is. Thanks Andrea Driscoll & team for this important paper which will help the plight of improving CR in