Regional Variation in Stroke Rehabilitation Outcomes

Where do you fall in outcomes compared to these 143,036 people? Your doctor should be using that as a baseline to determine how good their hospital is in getting patients back to recovery. A great or even good stroke association should be keeping this data as a running total so changes over the years can be measured. But, alas we have no 'good' stroke association. We don't have any stroke association worthy of the name.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003999313005832

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Abstract

Objective

To examine and describe regional variation in outcomes for persons with stroke receiving inpatient medical rehabilitation.

Design

Retrospective cohort design.

Setting

Inpatient rehabilitation units and facilities contributing to the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSMR) from the United States.

Participants

143,036 patients with stroke discharged from inpatient rehabilitation during 2006 and 2007.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures

Community discharge, length of stay, discharge functional status ratings (motor, cognitive), across ten geographic service regions defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Results

Approximately 71% of the sample was discharged to the community. After adjusting for covariates, the percentage discharged to the community varied from 79.1% in the southwest (CMS 9) to 59.4% in the northeast (CMS 2). Adjusted length of stay varied by 2.1 days with CMS 1 having the longest length of stay at 18.3 days and CMS 5 and 9 being the shortest at 16.2 days.

Conclusion

Rehabilitation outcomes for persons with stroke varied across CMS regions. Substantial variation in discharge destination and length of stay remained after adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics.