The Center for Cardiac, Pulmonary, and Vascular Fitness

Intensive Cardiac Rehab Program

The Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute offers the Dean Ornish Intensive Cardiac Rehab Program at its East Greenwich location. This program is the only lifestyle medicine program proven in randomized controlled clinical trials to reverse the progression of coronary heart disease and is the only program of its kind offered in New England.

Dean Ornish

Contact the Intensive Cardiac Rehab Program

For more information or to refer a patient, please call 401-793-5810 or 401-606-4080.

Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute
Lifespan Ambulatory Care Center
1454 South County Trail, Suite 1100
East Greenwich, RI 02818

Directions

The program has been shown to improve health and reduce cardiac risk in patients with cardiac disease by:

  • Lowering LDL cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar
  • Decreasing frequency and severity of angina 
  • Reducing body weight
  • Decreasing depression
  • Reducing cardiac events
  • Decreasing the need for medications
  • Lowering chances of future surgery

The program also helps improve other health conditions such as diabetes and cancer.

How the Intensive Cardiac Rehab Program Works

Classes meet twice a week for nine weeks, four hours per session. To help accommodate patients who work, classes are offered in morning, afternoon and evening hours. 

Each 4-hour session focuses on four lifestyle aspects:

  1. Nutrition: encouraging a whole-foods, plant-based approach; daily meal provided
  2. Activity: Medically supervised exercise
  3. Stress management: Relaxation and meditation practices
  4. Emotional support: group sessions

Education plays a key role in the program and is provided by a variety of medical professionals, including our registered nurses, exercise physiologists, social workers, registered nutritionists, and a stress management specialist.

Who is Eligible?

The program is appropriate for patients with the following diagnoses:

  • Heart attack within 12 months
  • Valve repair and replacement   
  • Coronary artery bypass surgery 
  • Coronary angioplasty or stenting
  • Heart transplant
  • Stable angina
  • Heart failure

Most insurance plans cover the program if you have a qualifying diagnosis. However, to avoid unexpected medical expenses or copays, please contact your insurance carrier before enrolling to confirm coverage and inquire about costs for billing codes G0422 and G0423.

Cardiac Rehabilitation Facilities

The program is offered on the ground floor of the Lifespan Ambulatory Care Center in East Greenwich, which has ample parking, lockers and showers, a kitchen for cooking demonstrations, a yoga and meditation room, resistance training and cardiovascular exercise equipment, and an indoor walking track.

Journey to Wellness & Health for Life Risk Reduction Programs 

In the Journey to Wellness program, cardiac rehabilitation graduates continue to support their journey in moving more, eating better, stressing less and loving more. Others, who are at increased risk of heart disease but have not experienced a cardiac episode, enroll in the Risk Reduction program to learn healthy living practices. The programs begin with a health assessment and goals for maintaining or improving your health. We then design a personalized program to be undertaken with medical supervision to help you achieve greater independence.

Unique aspects of our rehabilitation, Journey to Wellness and Risk Reduction Programs include:

  • Relaxation classes
  • Cooking demonstrations 
  • Food shopping excursions 
  • Variety of Exercise workshops
  • Support groups
  • Nutritional, behavioral and stress management consultations