Patients with lower-extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) have greater functional impairment, faster functional decline, increased rates of mobility loss, and poorer quality of life than people without PAD. Supervised exercise therapy (SET) improves walking ability, overall functional status, and health-related quality of life in patients with symptomatic PAD. In 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a National Coverage Determination (CAG-00449N) for SET programs for patients with symptomatic PAD. This advisory provides a practical guide for delivering SET programs to patients with PAD according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services criteria. It summarizes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services process and requirements for referral and coverage of SET and provides guidance on how to implement SET for patients with PAD, including the SET protocol, options for outcome measurement, and transition to home-based exercise. This advisory is based on the guidelines established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for Medicare beneficiaries in the United States and is intended to assist clinicians and administrators who are implementing SET programs for patients with PAD.

Supervised walking exercise is an effective treatment to improve walking ability of patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), but few exercise programs in community settings have been effective. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of a community-based walking exercise program with training, monitoring, and coaching (TMC) components to improve exercise performance and patient-reported outcomes in PAD patients. This was a randomized, controlled trial including PAD patients who previously received peripheral endovascular therapy or presented with stable claudication. Patients randomized (n=25) to the intervention group received a comprehensive community-based walking exercise program with elements of TMC over 14 weeks. Patients in the control group did not receive treatment beyond standard advice to walk. The primary outcome in the intent-to-treat (ITT) analyses was peak walking time (PWT) on a graded treadmill. Secondary outcomes included claudication onset time (COT) and patient-reported outcomes assessed via the Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ). Intervention group patients (n=10) did not significantly improve PWT when compared with the control group patients (n=10) (mean±standard error: +2.1±0.7 vs. 0.0±0.7 min, p=0.052). Changes in COT and WIQ scores were greater for intervention patients compared with control patients (COT: +1.6±0.8 vs. −0.6±0.7 min, p=0.045; WIQ: +18.3±4.2 vs. −4.6±4.2%, p=0.001). This pilot using a walking program with TMC and an ITT analyses did not improve the primary outcome in PAD patients. Other walking performance and patient self-reported outcomes were improved following exercise in community settings. Further study is needed to determine whether this intervention improves outcomes in a trial employing a larger sample size.

Background Treadmill walking is commonly used to evaluate walking impairment and efficacy of treatment for intermittent claudication (IC) in clinical and research settings. Although this is an important measure, it does not provide information about how patients perceive the effects of their treatments on more global measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Methods PubMed/Medline was searched to find publications about the most commonly used questionnaires to assess functional status and/or general and disease-specific HRQOL in patients with PAD who experience IC. Inclusion criteria for questionnaires were based on existence of a body of literature in symptomatic PAD. Results Six general questionnaires and 7 disease-specific questionnaires are included with details about the number of domains covered and how each tool is scored. The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 item questionnaire and Walking Impairment Questionnaire are currently the most used general and disease-specific questionnaires at baseline and following treatment for IC, respectively. Conclusions The use of tools which assess functional status and HRQOL has importance in both the clinical and research areas to assess treatment efficacy from the patient perspective. Therefore, assessing HRQOL in addition to treadmill-measured walking ability provides insight as to effects of treatments on patient outcomes and may help guide therapy.

Background: Supervised exercise therapy (SET) is a cornerstone of treatment for improving walking distance for individuals with symptomatic peripheral artery disease and claudication. High-quality randomized controlled trials have documented the efficacy of SET as a claudication treatment and led to the recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid decision to cover supervised exercise therapy (SET). However, to date, the translation of highly controlled, laboratory-based SET programs in real-world cardiopulmonary rehabilitation settings has not been explored. Methods: In this article, we described our experience integrating SET into existing cardiopulmonary rehabilitation programs, focusing on patient evaluation, exercise prescription, outcome assessments, strategies to maximize program adherence, and transitioning to home and community-based exercise training. Results: Our team has over 3 years' experience successfully implementing SET in cardiac rehabilitation settings. The experiences communicated here can serve as a model for clinical exercise physiologists as they begin to incorporate SET in their rehabilitation programs. Conclusion: CMS reimbursement has the potential to change clinical practice and utilization of SET for patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease. The experience we have gained through implementation of SET programs across the M Health and Fairview Health Systems and in other Minnesota communities—including specific elements in our programs and the lessons learned from our clinical experience—can inform and help guide development of new programs.