The Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation

Abstract

To provide benchmarking information for a large national sample of patients receiving inpatient rehabilitation after a stroke. Analysis of secondary data from 893 medical rehabilitation facilities located in the United States and contributing information to the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation from 2000 to 2007. Variables analyzed included demographic information (age, sex, marital status, race/ethnicity, prehospital living setting, and discharge setting), hospitalization information (length of stay, program interruptions, payer, event onset date, rehabilitation impairment group, International Classification of Diseases-9 codes for the admitting diagnosis, and comorbidities), and functional status information (FIM(R) instrument ["FIM"] ratings at admission and discharge, FIM efficiency, and FIM gain). Descriptive statistics revealed that the length of stay decreased from a mean of 19.6 (+/-12.8) days to 16.5 (+/-9.8) days during the 8-yr study period. FIM instrument admission and discharge ratings also decreased. Mean admission ratings decreased from 62.5 (+/-20.1) to 55.1 (+/-19.3), and mean discharge ratings decreased from 86.4 (+/-23.6) to 79.8 (+/-24.0). FIM change remained relatively stable; the mean for the entire sample was 23.9 (+/-14.8). The percent of persons discharged to the community ranged from 75.8% in 2000 to 69.3% in 2007. All results are likely affected by changes in the definition for program interruption and procedures for FIM data collection. Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation data from persons with stroke receiving rehabilitation from 2000 to 2007 indicate patients are showing improvement in functional independence during their rehabilitation stay, and a large percentage are discharged to community settings.