Durable data. A rehabilitation center collects and distributes information for functional assessment and program evaluation

As physical rehabilitation services have expanded nationwide, both payers and providers have increasingly felt the need for adequate outcome data. In 1988 organizers at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Center, Wheaton, IL, launched the Center for Rehabilitation Outcome Analysis-a service for rehabilitation facilities that want to develop in-house functional assessment and program evaluation systems. The center has focused on meeting three major needs of rehabilitation providers: outcome data analysis and reporting, education, and research. It uses the Patient Evaluation and Conference System for a variety of needs from planning programs to establishing functional outcome expectations. The center also educates participants on the use and meaning of outcome data. In addition, it has enlisted the help of the profession's behavioral scientists, evaluators, and statisticians to scrutinize and enhance program evaluation and measurement models.