Over the course of 2020, health systems have learned new protocols and practices that create stronger patient outcomes and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, inpatient rehabilitation has played a vital role in enabling patients to recover and will continue to play an important role in the future.
New research outlined in a recent COVID-19 recovery guide has further echoed that as the number of COVID-19 patients in recovery increases, so will the need for rehabilitation. Additionally, 20% of patients recovering from COVID-19 will require hospital-based rehab, according to a recent study in the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine.1 The study further emphasized that rehab plays a unique and positive role in treating patients recovering from COVID-19.
Newer data also supports these claims, revealing that due to the unique clinical presentations of patients recovering from COVID, the nation’s inpatient rehabilitation facilities treated more clinically complex patients compared to other care settings. Further, Uniform Data Set for Medical Rehabilitation, the industry’s largest database representing more than 80% of all inpatient rehabilitation facilities, reported that the average Case Mix Index rose to 1.43 from 1.40 during the pandemic.
Despite caring for more clinically complex patients, our nation’s rehabilitation facilities were able to successfully discharge more patients to the community and patients in these facilities maintained a consistent average length of stay of approximately 13 days.
Read our latest whitepaper, “The Critical Role Inpatient Rehabilitation Plays in COVID-19 Recovery” to learn more about the role of rehabilitation in COVID recovery.
References
1. Fary Khan, MBBS, MD, FAFRM (RACP), Bhasker Amatya, DMedSci, MD, MPH, Medical Rehabilitation in Pandemics: Towards a New Perspective, Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, Vol. 52, Issue 4, April 9, 2020