Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death world wide. In Canada, coronary artery disease (the most fatal form of CVD) is the 2nd leading cause of death, and nearly 900 deaths and over 4,000 annual hospitalizations are attributed to CVD in the Windsor-Essex region. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR), a form of secondary prevention, lowers subsequent CVD-related deaths, reduces hospitalizations, and improves quality of life. Despite the known benefits, CR remains underutilized. There is an urgent need to increase CR uptake and retention to lessen the economic and personal burden of CVD in our community, in Canada and around the world. It is hoped that this proposed work will endorse program characteristics that enhance CR use and completion, the homogeneous implementation of which could help thousands of individuals living in Windsor-Essex and beyond achieve the best possible outcome.