Information alone will not close the cardiac rehabilitation participation gap. Even with a physician endorsement or automatic referral, many patients stop short of enrolling. Why?
For some patients, what’s missing is inspiration not information.
Heart-to-Heart (H2H) is our new initiative that seeks to inspire potential patients through honest, heartfelt peer-to-peer endorsement of cardiac rehab. The project received recent funding from the Frankel Cardiovascular Center’s 2025 Just Do It! Award. This sponsorship will enable our team to collect diverse stories of patient experiences with cardiac rehab and foster broader community conversations on its life-changing impact. The project is the latest venture from NewBeat, a cross-CQI program spearheaded by Healthy Behavior Optimization for Michigan (HBOM) and our BMC2 and MVC partners at the Michigan Cardiac Rehab Network.
Heart-to-Heart builds on the momentum of NewBeat, our statewide cardiac rehab initiative launched in 2023, in partnership with MiCR, BMC2, and MVC, and supported by the Frankel Cardiovascular Center. NewBeat brings together clinical and operational thought leaders from across the Michigan Cardiac Rehab Network and the design minds at HBOM to develop and launch novel interventions to increase enrollment in cardiac rehab.
Since 2023, our coalition has developed a unified web home for Michigan cardiac rehab stakeholders, michigancr.org, now in version 2.0 with nearly 5,000 users. Our team has distributed over 10,000 Cardiac Care cards, many of which were personalized and signed by Michigan cardiologists and personally delivered to patients across the state. We have reached patients in 43 states through our online resources. Most notably, we have seen quarter-over-quarter increases in cardiac rehab enrollment in Michigan.
Through our deep dive into the challenges of increasing access to cardiac rehabilitation, we’ve discovered that many patients decide to attend cardiac rehab based on a single peer’s recommendation. Yet, few know someone who’s been through it.
Heart-to-Heart seeks to fill this gap by producing a diverse library of audio, visual, and written stories told by real Michigan patients. From the team behind NewBeat, the project will use trusted techniques from photojournalism, narrative medicine, artifact storytelling, and oral history to bring these experiences to life. We aim to:
- Increase awareness of the impact of cardiac rehab through first-person patient stories and interviews
- Showcase a diversity of patient backgrounds and experiences especially from groups who may be a greater risk of adverse long-term outcomes after AMI, CABG, PCI, SAVR, TAVR, and CHF.
Excerpt from a Michigan Medicine patient’s letter to future cardiac rehab patients, collected for NewBeat’s cardiac rehab referral greeting cards, part of our 2023 FCVC Just Do It! Award work.
Download our 2025 FCVC Poster
How Can I Help?
If you are a current or former cardiac rehab patient or know someone who is, let us know by completing this brief interest form: https://bit.ly/MiCR_Heart-to-Heart.
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