SNAP disruption during a government shutdown and implications for chronic disease self-management: a qualitative study.

In recent years, as the population of patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) has aged, the cardiac rehabilitation (CR) population has also become older. Consequently, an increasing number of patients present with frailty and multiple comorbidities, leading to a decline in their capacity to perform activities of daily living (ADL). A Japanese report indicated that 37% of patients experienced a decline in ADL after acute-phase treatment. Therefore, CR is sometimes continued in community-based care wards or convalescent rehabilitation wards following acute treatment. In Japan, a community-based care ward system was introduced in 2014 to address the needs of an aging society. The roles of these wards include accepting patients transferred from acute-care hospitals, supporting their return to home and community life, and providing care during emergencies. In these wards, where supporting patients’ return home is the primary goal, determining the discharge destination is a crucial aspect of care planning. Among the various factors influencing discharge destination, improvement in physical function during hospitalization is considered one of the most important.