Home-based Rehabilitation Group Research Articles

Inpatient Compared with Home-Based Rehabilitation Following Primary Unilateral Total Hip or Knee Replacement: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Home-based rehabilitation is increasingly utilized to reduce health-care costs; however, with a shorter hospital stay, the possibility arises for an increase in adverse clinical outcomes. We evaluated the effectiveness and cost of care of home-based compared with inpatient rehabilitation following primary total hip or knee joint replacement. We randomized 234 patients, using block randomization techniques, to either home-based or inpatient rehabilitation following total joint replacement. All patients followed standardized care pathways and were evaluated, with use of validated outcome measures (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index [WOMAC], Short Form-36, and patient satisfaction), prior to surgery and at three and twelve months following surgery. The primary outcome was the WOMAC function score at three months after surgery. The mean length of stay (and standard deviation) in the acute care hospital was 6.3 +/- 2.5 days for the group designated for inpatient rehabilitation prior to transfer to that facility compared with 7.0 +/- 3.0 days for the home-based rehabilitation group prior to discharge home (p = 0.06). The mean length of stay in inpatient rehabilitation was 17.7 +/- 8.6 days. The mean number of postoperative home-based rehabilitation visits was eight. The prevalence of postoperative complications up to twelve months postoperatively was similar in both groups, which each had a 2% rate of dislocation and a 3% rate of clinically important deep venous thrombosis. The prevalence of infection was 0% in the home-based group and 2% in the inpatient group. None of these differences was clinically important. Both groups showed substantial improvements at three and twelve months, with no significant differences between the groups with respect to WOMAC, Short Form-36, or patient satisfaction scores (p > 0.05). The total episode-of-care costs (in Canadian dollars) for the inpatient rehabilitation and home-based rehabilitation arms were $14,532 and $11,082, respectively (p < 0.01). Despite concerns about early hospital discharge, there was no difference in pain, functional outcomes, or patient satisfaction between the group that received home-based rehabilitation and the group that had inpatient rehabilitation. On the basis of our findings, we recommend the use of a home-based rehabilitation protocol following elective primary total hip or knee replacement as it is the more cost-effective strategy.

Health care and social welfare costs in home‐based and hospital‐based rehabilitation after stroke

During the 1990s most western European and Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries experienced financial difficulties and were forced to cut back on or restrain health care expenditures. Home rehabilitation has received attention in recent years because of its potential for cost containment. Often forgotten, however, is the redistribution of costs from one caregiver to another. The aim of this study was to analyse whether a redistribution of costs occurs between health care providers (the County councils) and social welfare providers (the municipalities) in a comparison of home-based rehabilitation and hospital-based rehabilitation after stroke. The study population included 123 patients, 53 in the home-based rehabilitation group and 68 in the hospital-based rehabilitation group. The patients were followed up at 6 and 12 months after onset of stroke. Resource use over a 12-month period included acute hospital care, in-hospital rehabilitation, home rehabilitation and use of home-help service as well as nursing home living. The hospital-based rehabilitation group had significantly fewer hospitalization days after a decision was made about rehabilitation at the acute care ward and consequently the cost for the acute care period was significantly lower. The cost for the rehabilitation period was significantly lower in the home-based rehabilitation group. However, the cost for home help service was significantly higher in the home-based rehabilitation group. The total costs for the care episode did not differ between the two groups. The main finding of this study is that there seems to occur a redistribution of costs between health care providers and social welfare providers in home rehabilitation after stroke in a group of patients with mixed degree of impairment.