Telehealth to Improve Functional Status and Quality of Life in Veterans With PAD

The present study aims to increase Veteran access to supervised exercise therapy and expand its role in improving functional status, quality of life, and cardiovascular risk profile of Veterans with PAD.

The investigators will use the VA Telehealth service to deploy a remotely accessible supervised exercise training program and evaluate whether a telehealth-based intervention can improve walking performance, quality of life, and ultimately cardiac risk in Veterans with PAD. The impetus for the current proposal stems from the following: 1) over 50% of VA-enrolled Veterans live in rural communities; 2) Veterans with PAD are older (mean age, 70 years), further increasing their risk for functional decline; and 3) there is a significant lack of access to facility-based supervised exercise training for Veterans with PAD. The objectives include the following: 1. To develop a telehealth-facilitated exercise intervention for Veterans with PAD that serves as a Veteran centric new model of care. 2. To integrate Veteran preferences into the development of a telehealth-facilitated supervised exercise program. 3. To assess the long-term patterns of functional impairment and quality of life among Veterans with PAD not undergoing supervised exercise training.