After acute hospital therapy of myocardial infarction or bypass surgery the patient in Germany will be treated using an inpatient rehabilitation programme for 3-4 weeks. One year later only 10% of them are still active in outpatients groups. In our study 61 cardiac patients performed an one-year outpatient rehabilitation (instead of 4 weeks inpatient) programme with intense supervised exercise and behaviour therapy. The money input per patient was the same for the usual care 4 weeks inpatient (6000 DM) as for 1 year outpatient rehabilitation (5800 DM). The exercise capacity per heart rate-blood pressure-product was increased by 43% (p > 0.01) after 12 months. The maximum exercise capacity was reached in the 57th week. Without increased medical treatment, cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol were reduced after 12 months by 3.9% down to 195 +/- 25 mg/dl or by 6.6% down to 122 +/- 21 mg/dl, respectively (n.s.). HDL-cholesterol increased by 2.8% to 48 +/- 8 mg/dl (n.s.). This study shows results similar to outpatient rehabilitation programmes in the United States or in Sweden. The long intervention time and the intensity are main factors for the success of cardiac rehabilitation and patient health. Financial resources should primarily be concentrated on long-term outpatient rehabilitation programmes.