# Using mobile technology to improve participation in cardiac rehabilitation

> **NIH VA IK2** · VA PUGET SOUND HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · 2020 · —

## Abstract

The nominee for this VA Career Development Award is Alexis Beatty, MD MAS, a Staff Cardiologist at the
VA Puget Sound Health Care System and Assistant Professor at the University of Washington. The primary
goal of this award is to facilitate the development of the nominee into an independent health services
investigator with the training and experience necessary to conduct research on innovative patient-centered
interventions to improve cardiovascular health.
 This research will develop and test a multi-component intervention for home cardiac rehabilitation that uses
mobile technology. Cardiac rehabilitation is a program of exercise training, risk factor modification, and
psychosocial counseling that reduces mortality and hospitalizations and improves health status in patients with
heart disease. However, only 19% of eligible Medicare patients and 8% of eligible Veterans receive this
guideline-recommended treatment. Most cardiac rehabilitation programs require patients to travel to a facility
for rehabilitation sessions three times per week for twelve weeks, which represents a significant barrier for
many patients. Home cardiac rehabilitation is an acceptable alternative to facility-based cardiac rehabilitation,
but has other challenges related to patient and provider communication. Mobile technology can provide access
to health interventions, motivate patients to engage in healthy behaviors, and facilitate patient-provider
communication. The nominee partnered with the VA Office of Connected Care to develop a patient mobile
application for cardiac rehabilitation and corresponding provider mobile application for viewing patient-
generated data. However, little is known about whether using mobile technology for home cardiac rehabilitation
will improve outcomes or how to integrate the use of mobile technology into the health care system.
 The specific aims of this research are: (1) Identify barriers and facilitators to use of a mobile application for
cardiac rehabilitation among Veterans. Veterans enrolled in home cardiac rehabilitation will use the mobile
application at home for 1 month, complete questionnaires, and participate in interviews about their experience.
(2) Determine provider-level adaptations for the intervention. Providers and key stakeholders will participate in
interviews about integrating the use of mobile technology into clinical care and develop strategies for
integrating mobile technology into workflow. (3) Pilot test a home cardiac rehabilitation intervention that uses
mobile technology. Veterans enrolled in home cardiac rehabilitation will be randomized to receive home
cardiac rehabilitation either with or without an intervention that is facilitated by mobile technology. The primary
goal will be to determine the feasibility of enrolling Veterans in a study of the intervention. The secondary goal
will be to determine whether the intervention leads to greater participation in cardiac rehabilitation.
 In addition to the experienc...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9837340
- **Project number:** 5IK2HX002235-03
- **Recipient organization:** VA PUGET SOUND HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Alexis Lynn Beatty
- **Activity code:** IK2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9837340

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9837340, Using mobile technology to improve participation in cardiac rehabilitation (5IK2HX002235-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9837340. Licensed CC0.

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