Virtual, In-Person Cardiac Rehabilitation Provide Similar Benefits

A study published in the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention shows that virtual and hybrid cardiac rehabilitation (CR) produced similar benefits for patients as compared with in-person services.

As the COVID-19 pandemic began to limit options for in-person treatment, many cardiovascular rehabilitation centers began to implement virtual and hybrid methods of care delivery.

Curious about how various CR care delivery channels compared to one another in terms of effectiveness, researchers from UC San Francisco collected information on patients enrolled in CR between October 2019 and May 2021.

“Our primary objectives were to compare the association of in-person, hybrid, and virtual CR with functional changes in patients between enrollment in the program through completion,” said study author Alexis Beatty, MD, a UCSF cardiologist and associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, in the press release.

Researchers separated visit information during the study period into in-person, hybrid, and virtual groups to compare data. The data they used to analyze participation in CR included a 6-minute walk test, blood pressure, depression, anxiety, waist-to-hip ratio, and cardiac self-efficacy.

Researchers found that hybrid and virtual care methods produced similar clinical benefits for patients as in-person care. Blood pressure control, walking ability, and anxiety levels were similar among the hybrid and virtual care groups and the in-person group.

“Not only did we find similar outcomes for virtual and hybrid CR as in-person CR, but we also found that virtual and hybrid CR have the potential to expand availability without compromising outcomes,” said Beatty.

But researchers noted that providers must consider various benefits when implementing virtual and hybrid CR programs. Different platforms may have the potential to increase the application of CR, but several factors contribute to overall health, and the extent to which each type of care provides benefits must be considered, they said.

Several recent studies have shown that hybrid and virtual care methods can be very successful, leading to improved patient and provider satisfaction.

A recent Mayo Clinic study found that after polling patients, hybrid models were popular and highly used among patients. The health system initially implemented a hybrid care approach due to COVID-19 restrictions, simultaneously increasing virtual care availability. Patients who spent at least one night in Mayo Clinic's Hybrid Care Hotel reported high satisfaction rates, high levels of comfort, and said that their needs were met.

Another study from May 2019 found that hybrid care models can be effective after comparing patient opinions of virtual and in-person care. Researchers concluded that providing rural patients with a virtual visitation option could reduce the time to treatment and increase the number of follow-up visits.