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Why Inpatient Rehabilitative Care?
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Why Inpatient Rehabilitative Care?
Rehabilitation hospitals deliver higher quality care and better results according to a study by the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association (AMRPA). As a matter of fact, the study revealed that patients treated in rehabilitation hospitals and units have better clinical outcomes and quality of life that those treated in nursing homes. The study compared clinically similar patients over a two-year period following discharge from rehabilitation hospitals or nursing homes. Here are two findings:
Go Home Earlier: Similar patients treated in rehabilitation hospitals return home 14 days sooner than those in nursing homes.
Remain Home Longer: Rehab hospital patients also were shown to be at home on average 51 days longer and had fewer hospital readmissions.
The requirements of an acute rehabilitation hospital are different than those of a skilled nursing facility, as noted in the following table.
| Rehabilitation Hospitals | Nursing Homes | |
| Close medical supervision by a physician with specialized training in rehabilitation | * Required | * Not Required |
| Multidisciplinary team approach that includes 24-hour rehabilitation nursing | * Required | * Not Required |
| Three hours of intensive therapy daily | * Required | * Not Required |
| Licensed and accredited for hospital level rehabilitation care | * Required | * Not Required |
Other notable outcome differences between acute rehabilitation hospitals and skilled nursing homes are that more people discharge back to their community and avoid rehospitalization, and less Medicare dollars are spent when rehabilitation hospitals are used. According to the MedPAC’s March 2019 Report to Congress the following statistics were noted.
| Rehabilitation Hospitals | Nursing Homes | |
| Discharge rate to community | 76.0% | 40.0% |
| Potentially-avoidable rehospitalization during stay | 2.6% | 10.9% |
| Potentially-avoidable rehospitalization during 30 days after discharge. | 4.7% | 6.1% |
| Medicare fee-for-service spending (in billions) | $7.9B | $28.4B |
“The better long-term results mean that patients have a higher quality of life,” says Rebecca Cartright, Chief Executive Officer of Midlands Regional Rehabilitation Hospital in Elgin, “making it extremely gratifying to be able to provide these inpatient services to our community on a daily basis.”
Midlands Regional Rehabilitation Hospital is a new 40-bed acute rehabilitation hospital with all private rooms located in Elgin, SC with easy access off Interstate-20 and White Pond Road.
