Study Finds That Supervised Exercise Therapy Still Underutilized Despite Reimbursement, Guideline Endorsement, And Proven Effectiveness
A study of Medicare claims found that in the 19-month period since Supervised Exercise Therapy (SET) was accepted as a therapy for Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), this therapeutic intervention was underutilized.
Published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, this study of CMS claims data from June 1, 2017, and December 31, 2018 found that of the 129,699 patients presenting with intermittent claudication (a classic first symptom of PAD) in that period, only 1.3% were enrolled in an SET program. Furthermore, only 5.1% of those enrolled in a SET program successfully completed the program.
The study compared the clinical outcomes of PAD patients treated with SET had a significantly lower need for future endovascular or surgical revascularization.
Despite the fact that SET received a class IA guideline endorsement from theAmerican College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines, there needs to be more awareness about the early detection of PAD which can enable a wider range of lower-cost, lower-risk therapies that enable a wider range of outcomes, optimizing patient health.
