The impacts of the combination service model of cardiac rehabilitation on patient outcomes: evidence from a hospital experience.

This research is to test whether the combination model (CM) (combining cardiac rehabilitation (CR) with other cardiovascular medical services) impact patients' readmissions, physical and psychological outcomes. We found that CM significantly enhances patients' exercise ability and psychological condition and reduces readmission rates after discharged from the hospital, compared to patients that are admitted to non-CM. Departments' physical resources weaken the impact of CM on patients' physical outcomes and readmission rates while increasing patients' psychological conditions. Human resources strengthen the impact of CM on patients' readmission rates while reducing the impact on patients' physical outcomes. Our results provide empirical evidence for hospital resource constraints puzzle and reallocation. These results provide a possibility of introducing CM as a way to deal with CR implementing challenges.