Pulmonary and cardiac rehabilitation: what NHLBI, Medicare, and the regulations say
NHLBI says pulmonary rehabilitation is “a supervised medical program that helps people who have lung diseases live and breathe better,” and that people may “learn physical therapy or breathing exercises to do at home.” Medicare Part B covers pulmonary and cardiac rehabilitation programs for eligible people, and 42 CFR 410.47 and 410.49 set the program rules, including session limits. This page quotes those sources and copies no costs.
Quoted from official pages checked November 12, 2026. Confirm current information on those sites. This page is not medical, legal, or billing advice and does not describe any patient’s care.
Sources read on November 12, 2026: NHLBI’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation page (last updated on March 24, 2022) and its COPD Treatment page (last updated on October 06, 2024); Medicare.gov’s Pulmonary rehabilitation programs and Cardiac rehabilitation programs pages; and 42 CFR 410.47 and 42 CFR 410.49 on eCFR (displayed as up to date as of 11/09/2026). The NHLBI pulmonary page is older; check it for newer information. An NHLBI cardiac rehabilitation page was not found at the addresses tried.
Pulmonary rehabilitation, in NHLBI’s words
NHLBI states: “During the program, you will learn exercises and breathing techniques.” On setting: “You may have pulmonary rehabilitation in the hospital or a clinic, or you may learn physical therapy or breathing exercises to do at home.”
On exercise training: “Exercise training aims to strengthen your back, arms, and legs, as well as the muscles you use to breathe.” On energy conservation: “You may learn how to conserve your energy and avoid feeling short of breath by finding easier ways to do daily tasks. This may include ways to avoid reaching, lifting, and bending, or ways to avoid or relieve stress.”
On length: “Usually, pulmonary rehabilitation is a series of 2 or 3 weekly sessions lasting several weeks or months.” NHLBI’s COPD page adds that pulmonary rehabilitation “is a supervised program that includes exercise training, health education, and breathing techniques for people who have certain lung conditions or have had a lung transplant.”
Medicare coverage
Medicare.gov says pulmonary rehabilitation programs “help you breathe better, get stronger, and live more independently,” and lists eligibility for people with “moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)”. For cardiac rehabilitation, it says: “Regular and intensive cardiac rehabilitation programs include exercise, education, and counseling if you’ve experienced a heart attack, heart failure, or certain other heart problems.”
The regulations
42 CFR 410.49 defines cardiac rehabilitation as “a physician or nonphysician practitioner supervised program that furnishes physician prescribed exercise, cardiac risk factor modification, psychosocial assessment, and outcomes assessment.” Under 410.47, “Physician-prescribed exercise means aerobic exercise combined with other types of exercise (such as conditioning, breathing retraining, step, and strengthening) as determined to be appropriate for individual patients by a physician.”
On session limits, both sections say sessions “are limited to a maximum of 2 1-hour sessions per day for up to 36 sessions over up to 36 weeks with the option for an additional 36 sessions over an extended period of time if approved by the Medicare Administrative Contractor.” For intensive cardiac rehabilitation, 410.49 says sessions “are limited to 72 1-hour sessions (as defined in section 1848(b)(5) of the Act), up to 6 sessions per day, over a period of up to 18 weeks.”
Neither regulation section nor the Medicare.gov and NHLBI pages read uses the word therapist. That statement covers only these pages; who staffs a program is not described here.
What this page does not do
It does not copy costs, list every eligible condition, or describe medical director requirements. It is not medical advice and does not recommend any treatment, medicine, or product. Scope of practice for each profession is set by state law; check your state board.