Objective
To determine the impact of post acute care site on stroke outcomes. Following a stroke, patients may receive post acute care in a number of different sites: inpatient rehabilitation (IRF), skilled nursing facility (SNF), and home health care/outpatient (HH/OP). We hypothesized that patients who received IRF would have better six-month functional outcomes than those who received care in other settings after controlling for patient characteristics.
Design
Prospective Cohort Study.
Setting
Four Northern California hospitals which are part of a single health maintenance organization.
Participants
222 patients with stroke enrolled between February 2008 and July 2010.
Intervention
Not Applicable.
Main Outcome Measure
Baseline and 6 month assessments were performed using the Activity Measure for Post Acute Care (AM-PAC™), a test of self-reported function in three domains: Basic Mobility, Daily Activities, and Applied Cognition.
Results
Of the 222 patients analyzed, 36% went home with no treatment, 22% received HH/OP care, 30% included IRF in their care trajectory, and 13% included SNF (but not IRF) in their care trajectory. At six months, after controlling for important variables such as age, functional status at acute care discharge, and total hours of rehabilitation, patients who went to an IRF had functional scores that were at least 8 points higher (twice the minimally detectable change for the AM-PAC) than those who went to a SNF in all 3 domains and in two out of three functional domains compared to those who received HH/OP care.
Conclusions
Patients with stroke may make more functional gains if their post-acute care includes an IRF. This finding may have important implications as post-acute care delivery is reshaped through health care reform.
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