Effect of functional gain on satisfaction with medical rehabilitation after stroke

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between gain in motor and cognitive functional status with patient satisfaction 3-6 mo after rehabilitation discharge. DESIGN: Patient satisfaction and changes in functional status were examined in 18,375 patients with stroke who received inpatient medical rehabilitation. Information was obtained from 144 hospitals and rehabilitation facilities contributing records to the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation and the National Follow-up Services. RESULTS: Data analysis revealed significant (P < 0.05) differences in satisfaction responses based on whether information was collected from patient self-report or from a family member proxy, and the two subsets were analyzed separately. Logistic regression revealed the following significant predictors of satisfaction for data collected from stroke patients: cognitive and motor gain, rehospitalization, who the patient was living with at follow-up, age, and follow-up therapy. In the patient-reported data subset, compared with patients who showed improved cognitive or motor functional status, those with no change, respectively, had a 31% and 33% reduced risk of dissatisfaction. In addition, rehospitalized patients had a higher risk of dissatisfaction. For the proxy reported data subset, significant influences on satisfaction were health maintenance, rehospitalization, stroke type, ethnicity, cognitive FIM gain, length of stay, and follow-up therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Ratings of satisfaction with rehabilitation services were affected by change in functional status and whether the information was collected from patient rating or proxy response.     

Satisfaction with medical rehabilitation in patients with orthopedic impairment

OBJECTIVE: To examine patient satisfaction after orthopedic impairment at 80 to 180 days after inpatient rehabilitation. DESIGN: Retrospective design examining records from facilities subscribing to the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSmr). SETTING: Information submitted to UDSmr from 1997 to 1998 by 177 hospital and rehabilitation facilities from 40 states. PARTICIPANTS: The sample (N=7781) was 72.63% female and 88.60% non-Hispanic white, with a mean age +/- standard deviation of 73.07+/-11.81 years, and average length of stay (LOS) of 13.84+/-10.48 days. INTERVENTION: Usual rehabilitation care.Main outcome measures Level of satisfaction 80 to 180 days after discharge as well as motor, cognitive, and subscale ratings for the FIM trade mark instrument. Predictor variables included gender, age, English language, marital status, discharge setting, LOS, rehospitalization, FIM gain, and primary payer. RESULTS: A logistic regression model was used to predict patient satisfaction at follow-up. Five statistically significant (P<.05) variables were found and correctly classified 94.9% of the patients. Discharge motor FIM rating, rehospitalization, age, patient's primary language, and discharge setting were associated with increased satisfaction. Discharge motor FIM ratings were significantly associated with increased satisfaction in patients with joint replacements and lower-extremity fractures. CONCLUSION: unctional and demographic variables were identified as predictors of satisfaction in patients with orthopedic impairments.     

Influence of the prospective payment system on speech-language pathology services

OBJECTIVE: The present study was performed to determine the clinical effects of the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System (IRF PPS) on speech and language intervention services and to examine the feasibility of using the federally mandated FIM instrument to establish resource allocation to patients with cognitive, communication, and swallowing disorders. DESIGN: A pre-IRF PPS and post-IRF PPS comparative study was conducted over a 1-yr time interval using data from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's National Outcomes Measurement System. Toward this end, the National Outcomes Measurement System's Functional Communication Measures were used to obtain data from 2,631 patients residing in 96 freestanding rehabilitation hospitals or hospitals with rehabilitation units implementing the prospective payment system on or after January 1, 2002. To ensure reliable retrospective and prospective data comparisons, all sites were active participants within the National Outcomes Measurement System program before the introduction of IRF PPS within their facilities. RESULTS: Findings revealed changes in both the utilization of speech-language pathologists and patient outcomes. Under the IRF PPS, there was a clear decline in speech- and language-related lengths of stay. However, clinicians attempted to compensate for these decrements in lengths of stay by increasing the intensity and frequency of their speech and language services. Despite these compensatory efforts, further analyses of the data revealed that under the IRF PPS, fewer patients achieved multiple levels of functional progress in speech and language abilities than before this payment system was implemented. This trend was most noteworthy in the treatment areas of swallowing, motor speech, and memory. In addition, this study revealed that, compared with the National Outcomes Measurement System's Functional Communication Measures, the FIM instrument significantly under-represented and undervalued the extent of a patient's overall progress in recovering from their cognitive, communication, or swallowing disabilities. CONCLUSION: These findings support the notion that the introduction of the IRF PPS has, perhaps unintentionally, caused more patients with cognitive, communication, and swallowing disorders to be discharged from inpatient rehabilitative care with less than adequate functional skill levels. The discouraging results in speech-language pathology utilization and patient outcomes will be useful for clinicians in the future when facing the ongoing challenges of maintaining quality care while streamlining services under the prospective payment system.     

Potential impact of the new medicare prospective payment system on reimbursement for traumatic brain injury inpatient rehabilitation

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential impact of the new Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) on traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study of patients with TBI. Patients were assigned to their appropriate case-mix group (CMG) based on Medicare criteria. SETTING: Fourteen urban rehabilitation facilities throughout the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with TBI admitted to inpatient rehabilitation and enrolled in the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems from 1998 to 2001 (N=1807). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cost of inpatient rehabilitation admission, length of stay (LOS), and functional outcomes. RESULTS: The median cost of inpatient rehabilitation for patients with TBI exceeded median PPS payments for all TBI CMGs by 16%. Only 3 of the 14 hospitals received reimbursement under PPS that exceeded costs for their TBI patients. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with current costs, the new Medicare payment system may reimburse facilities significantly less than their costs for the treatment of TBI. To maintain their current financial status, facilities may have to reduce LOS and/or reduce resource use. With a decreased LOS, inpatient rehabilitation services will have to improve FIM efficiency or discharge patients with lower discharge FIM scores.     

Cost of inpatient rehabilitation care in the Department of Veterans Affairs

We investigated the determinants of inpatient rehabilitation costs in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and examined the relationship between length of stay (LOS) and discharge costs using data from VA and community rehabilitation hospitals. We estimated regression models to identify patient characteristics associated with specialized inpatient rehabilitation costs. VA data included 3,535 patients discharged from 63 facilities in fiscal year 2001. We compared VA costs to community rehabilitation hospitals using a sample from the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation of 190,112 patients discharged in 1999 from 697 facilities. LOS was a strong predictor of cost for VA and non-VA hospitals. Functional status, measured by Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scores at admission, was statistically significant but added little explanatory value after controlling for LOS. Although FIM scores were associated with LOS, FIM scores accounted for little variance in cost after controlling for LOS. These results are most applicable to researchers conducting cost-effectiveness analyses.     

Orthopedic impairment after medical rehabilitation: functional performance and satisfaction with community participation

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of satisfaction with community participation and to examine associations between change in functional status and satisfaction with community participation for persons with orthopedic impairments. DESIGN: Retrospective study of 3832 patients discharged from medical rehabilitation facilities in 2001 using information from the IT Health Track database. RESULTS: Primary measures were the FIM instrument and satisfaction with community participation. The majority of patients (86.9%) were satisfied (very or somewhat) with their level of community participation. Positive-change scores in FIM total from admission to the 80- to 180-day follow-up were associated with an 8% increased odds of being in a higher satisfaction with community participation level (odds ratio, 1.08; 95% confidence interval: 1.07, 1.09) after controlling for age, gender, marital status, race/ethnicity, insurance source, length of stay and functional status. Similarly, positive-change score in motor (odds ratio, 1.09; 95% confidence interval: 1.08, 1.10) and cognition (odds ratio, 1.26; 95% confidence interval: 1.19, 1.32) FIM measures from admission to follow-up were associated with greater satisfaction with community participation. CONCLUSION: Gains in functional status were significantly associated with greater satisfaction with community participation. Satisfaction with community participation provides information useful to evaluate patient recovery after discharge from inpatient medical rehabilitation.     

Evaluating the planned substitution of the minimum data set-post acute care for use in the rehabilitation hospital prospective payment system

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the payment implications of substituting the Minimum Data Set-Post Acute Care (MDS-PAC) for the FIM trade mark instrument for use in the planned prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient rehabilitation hospitals. FIM trade mark is a trademark of the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, a division of UB Foundation Activites, Inc. RESEARCH DESIGN: We used a prospective cross-sectional design using consecutive sampling. SUBJECTS: We studied all Medicare admissions with stays of 3 days or more over a 2-month period to 50 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in 22 states. MEASUREMENTS AND METHODS: Each participating institution completed both the FIM and the MDS-PAC assessments on all participants. Items from the MDS-PAC were combined and translated to create "FIM-like" items. We assessed agreement of classification into prospective payment cells using FIM assessment data and also using MDS-PAC data. Statistical adjustments were applied to improve the level of agreement. RESULTS: The mean differences between the FIM motor and cognitive scales and their MDS-PAC translations were 2.4 (mean = 45) and 0.0 (mean = 28), respectively, with scale correlations of.85 and.84. Weighted kappas on individual items ranged from.32 to.64. There were substantial hospital-specific differences in scoring. Payment cell classification using FIM data agreed with that using MDS-PAC data only 56% of the time. Twenty percent of the facilities experienced revenue shifts larger than 10%. CONCLUSION: Despite better item-level agreement than previously observed, poor payment cell agreement and substantial revenue shifts indicated that the MDS-PAC should not be substituted for the FIM trade mark instrument in the rehabilitation hospital PPS.     

Effect of rehabilitation site on functional recovery after hip fracture

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether FIM instrument motor outcomes differ between hip fracture survivors undergoing rehabilitation in inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). DESIGN: Inception cohort with follow-up to 12 weeks after hospital discharge. SETTING: University-affiliated tertiary care hospital, IRFs, and SNFs. PARTICIPANTS: All hip fracture patients prospectively admitted between March 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003, were eligible if they were 60 years or older and had surgical stabilization of the fracture. INTERVENTIONS: Posthip fracture rehabilitation delivered at either IRFs or SNFs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: FIM motor score obtained postoperatively and at 2 and 12 weeks posthospital discharge. RESULTS: IRF patients stayed an average of 12.8 days, whereas SNF patients averaged 36.2 days. Rehabilitation participation scores were obtained during therapy sessions and did not differ between groups. A repeated-measures analysis of covariance found a significant group by time interaction (F 2,68 =23.75, P <.001), which indicates that patients in an IRF had significantly higher FIM motor scores than those in an SNF across time. Logistic regression showed that IRF subjects were more likely to reach 95% of their prefracture FIM motor by week 12 than were SNF patients. A significantly higher percentage of IRF patients were discharged home after rehabilitation compared with SNF patients. CONCLUSIONS: IRF patients had superior 12-week functional outcomes, as measured by the FIM motor score, compared with those treated in an SNF. The improved outcomes occurred during a significantly shorter rehabilitation length of stay and remained even when statistically controlling for baseline differences between groups. These data suggest that hip fracture survivors should not be excluded from receiving inpatient rehabilitation services. Randomized clinical trials are needed to understand more fully differences between rehabilitation treatment settings.     

The Pittsburgh Rehabilitation Participation Scale: reliability and validity of a clinician-rated measure of participation in acute rehabilitation

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate interrater reliability and predictive validity of the Pittsburgh Rehabilitation Participation Scale (PRPS), a clinician-rated 6-point Likert-type item measuring patient participation in inpatient rehabilitation sessions. DESIGN: Prospective measurement of patient participation in physical and occupational therapy sessions during inpatient rehabilitation. SETTING: University-based, freestanding acute rehabilitation hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred forty-two inpatients, primarily elderly, with a variety of impairment diagnoses (eg, stroke), who were admitted for inpatient rehabilitation. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Change in the 13 motor items from the FIM trade mark instrument, from admission to discharge. RESULTS: The PRPS had high interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]=.91 for occupational therapists; ICC=.96 for physical therapists). The subjects had mean PRPS scores +/- standard deviation of 4.73+/-0.76. Mean PRPS scores predicted rehabilitation outcome (N=242, r=.32, P<.0001), as measured by change in motor FIM. The strength of this association did not change in a multivariate model that controlled for age, gender, race, impairment group, medical comorbidity count, length of stay, and admission FIM. CONCLUSIONS: Patient participation during acute inpatient rehabilitation can be easily and reliably measured, and PRPS scores predict functional outcome. The PRPS may have applicability in clinical and research outcome measurement.     

Predicting the achievement of 6 grades of physical independence from data routinely collected at admission to rehabilitation

OBJECTIVE: To develop prognostic indexes with which to establish the likelihood of individuals achieving specific grades of physical independence by the conclusion of inpatient rehabilitation. DESIGN: Logistic regression with prospective validation. SETTING: Five hundred sixty inpatient rehabilitation facilities. PARTICIPANTS: Records of 218,290 adults discharged in 1995 were used to establish the grades and the indexes predicting those grades. There were 259,806 1997 discharges included in the validation. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Six physical independence grades reflecting the most likely profiles of performance across the 13 motor FIM items. RESULTS: After severity adjustment, patients 65 years of age or younger, compared with those 84 years of age or older, had odds ratios of reaching higher grades ranging from 1.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-1.7) to 7.5 (95% CI, 4.3-13.1). Admission to rehabilitation within 2 weeks of disability was associated with more favorable prognoses. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve ranged from.80 to.94 for the indexes, with minimal shrinkage on prospective validation. CONCLUSION: The models have sufficient reliability to establish from admission information the likelihood that a patient will achieve a specific grade of physical independence by the time of discharge from rehabilitation. The capacity to quantify prognosis has clinical, policy, and research applications.     

Medicare's payment system: its effect on discharges to skilled nursing facilities from rehabilitation hospitals

OBJECTIVE: To determine if Medicare's payment system for rehabilitation hospitals encourages discharges to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Medicare payments to hospitals are based on limits derived from a hospital's average allowable patient charge during a base year. Thereafter, payments are capped, but hospitals receive additional incentive payments if succeeding costs are reduced. It was a hypothesis of this study that discharges to SNFs would increase after the base year. In this way, rehabilitation hospitals would limit high-cost patients when under reimbursement limitation. METHODS: Medicare claims data for 162,239 discharges from 69 rehabilitation hospitals between 1987 and 1994 were analyzed. After controlling for patient and provider characteristics, we compared the odds of being discharged to a SNF before, during, and after the base year. RESULTS: Before and during the base year, 4.7% and 6.6% of patients were discharged to a SNF. After the base year, 9% of patients were sent to a SNF. After controlling for temporal and seasonal trends, as well as for patient and provider characteristics, those discharged after the base year were significantly more likely to be sent to a SNF than those discharged during the base year. These odds increased with increasing length of stay in the rehabilitation hospital. For those with a length of stay of 29 days (75th percentile) the odds increased by 11% (odds ratio, 1.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.18). CONCLUSIONS: The incentives of Medicare's reimbursement system may encourage an increase in the percentage of patients discharged to SNFs after the base year. These findings have significant implications regarding the structure of Medicare's prospective payment system currently planned for this class of hospital.     

Satisfaction with medical rehabilitation in patients with cerebrovascular impairment

OBJECTIVE: Overall satisfaction has important social and economic implications for patients who have received inpatient medical rehabilitation. We conducted this study to examine the overall satisfaction level at 3- to 6-mo follow-up for inpatients with cerebrovascular impairments discharged from medical rehabilitation. DESIGN: The study was retrospective using information from a national database representative of medical rehabilitation patients across the United States. Information submitted in 1997 and 1998 to the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation by 177 hospital and rehabilitation facilities from 40 states was examined. The final sample included 8,900 patient records. The main outcome measure was the level of satisfaction with medical rehabilitation at 80-180 days postdischarge follow-up. RESULTS: A logistic regression model including ten independent variables was used to predict satisfied vs. dissatisfied at follow-up. Three statistically significant variables were included in the final model and correctly classified 95.1% of the patients. Higher FIM instrument discharge scores were associated with increased satisfaction. Further analysis of the FIM instrument subscales indicated that higher ratings in transfers, social cognition, and locomotion were significantly associated with increased satisfaction. CONCLUSION: We identified several functional variables associated with increased satisfaction after medical rehabilitation in persons with stroke. The ability to objectively assess patient satisfaction is important as consumer-based outcome measures are integrated in accreditation and healthcare evaluation.     

Joint Replacement Rehabilitation Outcomes on Discharge From Skilled Nursing Facilities and Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities

DeJong G, Horn SD, Smout RJ, Tian W, Putman K, Gassaway J. Joint replacement rehabilitation outcomes on discharge from skilled nursing facilities and inpatient rehabilitation facilities.

Objective

To compare functional outcomes at discharge across postacute settings.

Design

Prospective observational cohort study.

Setting

Eleven inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), 8 freestanding skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and 1 hospital-based SNF from across the United States.

Participants

Consecutively enrolled patients (N=2152): patients with knee replacement (n=1401) and patients with hip replacement (n=751).

Interventions

None; examination of existing practice patterns.

Main Outcome Measure

FIM discharge motor score.

Results

Freestanding SNF patients entered with higher motor FIM scores and left with higher scores than did IRF patients. IRF patients, however, achieved larger motor FIM gains and achieved them in a shorter time. In multivariate models controlling for patient differences and onset days, IRFs were associated with better discharge motor outcomes, but the overall setting effect was not large. The largest motor FIM differences were between medium-volume IRFs and low-volume freestanding SNFs: 4.6 motor FIM points for patients with knee replacement and 7.3 motor FIM points for patients with hip replacement. Other differences between settings were much smaller. Multivariate models explained between a third and a half of the variance in outcome.

Conclusions

As a group, IRFs had better motor FIM outcomes than did SNFs, but the size of the IRF advantage was not large. Other important facility and practice characteristics also were associated with discharge outcomes after joint replacement rehabilitation. Earlier and more intensive rehabilitation was associated with better outcomes. The volume of joint replacement patients seen by a facility also plays a part: medium-volume facilities among both SNFs and IRFs had better outcomes.     

Impact of Medicare prospective payment system on acute rehabilitation outcomes of patients with spinal cord injury

Qu H, Shewchuk RM, Chen Y, Deutsch A. Impact of Medicare prospective payment system on acute rehabilitation outcomes of patients with spinal cord injury.

Objective

To examine the impact of Medicare's inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) prospective payment system (PPS) on inpatient rehabilitation outcomes for patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design

Retrospective study.

Setting

Twelve SCI Model Systems.

Participants

A sample of Medicare (n=296) and non-Medicare (n=3110) patients was selected from the National SCI Statistical Center Database from 1996 to 2006.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures

Motor FIM score change and length of stay (LOS).

Results

LOS decreased by about 5.8 days a year (P<.001) for Medicare patients and about 1.3 days a year (P=.031) for non-Medicare patients after PPS implementation. However, for both groups, FIM score gains were not significantly different in the pre-PPS and PPS periods.

Conclusions

Although significant decreases in LOS were observed for Medicare patients after IRF PPS implementation, Medicare patients' improvements in motor function did not decrease. Non-Medicare patients with SCI also experienced shortened stays after Medicare IRF PPS implementation, but had equivalent FIM score gains compared with their counterparts who received inpatient rehabilitation care before PPS implementation. IRF PPS implementation was associated with shorter stays, but was not associated with lower functional improvement.     

Change in Function Over Inpatient Rehabilitation After Hypoxic Ischemic Brain Injury: A Population-Wide Cohort Study

ObjectiveTo estimate change in motor, cognitive, and overall functional performance during inpatient rehabilitation (IR) and to identify potential determinants of these outcomes among patients with hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HIBI).DesignPopulation-based retrospective cohort study using Ontario’s health administrative data.SettingInpatient rehabilitation.ParticipantsSurvivors of HIBI 20 years and older discharged from acute care between fiscal years 2002-2003 and 2010-2011 and admitted to IR within 1 year of acute care discharge (N=159).InterventionsNot applicable.Main Outcome MeasureFunctional status as measured by FIM, total, and scores on motor and cognitive subscales.ResultsA higher proportion (77%) of HIBI patients in the study were male and 28% were older than 65 years. We observed material improvements in FIM total, motor, and cognitive scores from across the IR episode. Potential determinants of total FIM gain were living in rural location (β, 10.4; 95% CI, 0.21-21), having shorter preceding acute care length of stay (15-30 vs >60 days β, 10.4; 95% CI, 1.4-19.5), and failing to proceed directly to IR following acute care discharge (β, 8.7; 95% CI, 1.8-15.5). Motor FIM gain had similar identified potential determinants. Identified potential determinants of cognitive FIM gain were shorter (ie, 31-60 vs >60 days) preceding acute care, longer IR and length of stay, and proceeding directly to IR. There were no sex differences in functional gain.ConclusionsInpatient rehabilitation is beneficial to HIBI survivors. Timely access to these services may be crucial in achieving optimal outcomes for these patients.     

Influence of rehabilitation site on hip fracture recovery in community-dwelling subjects at 6-month follow-up

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether postacute rehabilitation after hip fracture influences recovery of prefracture function as detected by the FIM instrument motor scale. DESIGN: Inception cohort. SETTING: University-affiliated tertiary care hospital; inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) or skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). PARTICIPANTS: People with acute proximal femur fracture treated between March 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003. INTERVENTION: Post-hip fracture rehabilitation delivered at an IRF or SNF. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: FIM motor score estimated prefracture and obtained at 2 weeks and 24 weeks after hospital discharge. RESULTS: Fifty-eight patients were treated at an IRF, whereas 39 were treated at an SNF. Controlling for baseline covariates, a mixed model showed a significant group by time interaction (F(3,57.1)=14.27, P < .001). Contrasts indicated that IRF subjects had greater initial improvement. Multiple logistic regression examining factors associated with recovery of FIM motor score to 95% or more of prefracture FIM motor score by 24 weeks found that IRF setting only was associated with recovery of baseline function with odds ratio of 5.44 (95% confidence interval, 2.02-14.65). CONCLUSIONS: Even when controlling for important baseline covariates, community-dwelling hip fracture subjects treated in an IRF are more likely to attain 95% or more of prefracture functional status by 24 weeks postdischarge than subjects treated in an SNF.     

Association Between Delayed Discharge From Acute Care and Rehabilitation Outcomes and Length of Stay: A Retrospective Cohort Study

ObjectiveTo examine the association between discharge delays from acute to rehabilitation care because of capacity strain in the rehabilitation units, patient length of stay (LOS), and functional outcomes in rehabilitation.DesignRetrospective cohort study using an instrumental variable to remove potential biases because of unobserved patient characteristics.SettingTwo campuses of a hospital network providing inpatient acute and rehabilitation care.ParticipantsPatients admitted to and discharged from acute care categories of Medicine and Neurology/Musculoskeletal (Neuro/MSK) and subsequently admitted to and discharged from inpatient rehabilitation between 2013 and 2019 (N=10486).InterventionsNone.Main Outcome MeasuresRehabilitation LOS, FIM scores at admission and discharge, and rehabilitation efficiency defined as FIM score improvement per day of rehabilitation.ResultsThe final cohort contained 3690 records for Medicine and 1733 for Neuro/MSK categories. For Medicine, 1 additional day of delayed discharge was associated with an average 5.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3%-7.3%) increase in rehabilitation LOS and 0.08 (95% CI, 0.03-0.13) reduction in rehabilitation efficiency. For Neuro/MSK, 1 additional day of delayed discharge was associated with an average 11.6% (95% CI, 2.8%-20.4%) increase in rehabilitation LOS and 0.08 (95% CI, ?0.07 to 0.23) reduction in rehabilitation efficiency.ConclusionsDelayed discharge from acute care to rehabilitation because of capacity strain in rehabilitation had a strong association with prolonged LOS in rehabilitation. An important policy implication of this “cascading” effect of delays is that reducing capacity strain in rehabilitation could be highly effective in reducing discharge delays from acute care and improving rehabilitation efficiency.     

Rehabilitation outcomes in cognitively impaired patients admitted to skilled nursing facilities from the community

OBJECTIVE: To examine the outcomes of patients with varying levels of cognitive impairment who received rehabilitation in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of the records of people admitted to SNFs for rehabilitation. SETTING: Seven SNFs in Colorado. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling persons (N=7159), 65 years of age and older, admitted for rehabilitation after a hospitalization or decline in function between May 1998 and May 2002. Interventions Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cognitive impairment was assessed using a 4-level categorization of the FIM instrument cognitive score at admission. Functional gain was measured using the FIM. Community discharge was measured as the proportion of patients discharged to home, board and care, or assisted living facility. Rehabilitation progress was measured as the number of FIM points gained per day. RESULTS: Significant functional gains were made during rehabilitation in motor and cognitive FIM scores, regardless of cognitive impairment. The most cognitively impaired patients required more rehabilitation intervention, achieved less FIM gain, and were less likely to be discharged to the community. The strongest predictors of FIM gain were the amount of therapy hours and admission cognitive FIM score. The strongest predictors of discharge to the community were the discharge total FIM score and age. The strongest predictors of adequate rehabilitation progress were medical complexity and admission cognitive FIM score. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with cognitive impairment were able to recover function with rehabilitation intervention. Patients with a more serious cognitive impairment received more rehabilitation intervention than patients with less impairment. Outcomes were predicted by admission and rehabilitation measures that were qualitatively different from other discharge outcomes. Health care professionals need to consider these factors as they create a rehabilitation plan of care for patients with cognitive impairment.     

Long-Term Outcomes of Joint Replacement Rehabilitation Patients Discharged From Skilled Nursing and Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities

DeJong G, Tian W, Smout RJ, Horn SD, Putman K, Hsieh C-H, Gassaway J, Smith P. Long-term outcomes of joint replacement rehabilitation patients discharged from skilled nursing and inpatient rehabilitation facilities.

Objective

To examine functional and health status outcomes of patients with joint replacement discharged from a skilled nursing facility (SNF) or an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF).

Design

Postdischarge follow-up interview study at 7.5 months after admission.

Setting

Five freestanding SNFs, 1 hospital-based SNF, and 6 IRFs.

Participants

Patients (N=856): 561 with knee replacement and 295 with hip replacement.

Interventions

None.

Main Outcome Measures

FIM and Short-Form 12-Item Health Survey (SF-12).

Results

Among patients with knee and hip replacement, IRF patients made larger motor FIM gains from admission and discharge to follow-up. IRF patients, however, were admitted with lower FIM scores and also had more to gain (especially given the ceiling effects within the FIM at follow-up). When adjusted for case mix, IRF patients made larger motor FIM gains and had higher SF-12–related scores among patients with hip replacement but not among patients with knee replacement. Multivariate regressions found modest setting effects that favored IRFs, and the setting effects explained only a modest portion of the variance in motor FIM outcomes.

Conclusions

At follow-up, patients with joint replacement discharged from IRFs had better motor FIM outcomes than those discharged from freestanding SNFs and the hospital-based SNF. Settings did not differ materially in terms of SF-12 outcomes. Findings do not favor one setting decisively over another. A sole focus on initial postacute placement overlooks the larger trajectory of postacute care that needs to be managed to achieve superior outcomes.