Improving Access to Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery: A Policy Statement From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association

'Access' IS NOT WHAT SURVIVORS WANT; THEY WANT RECOVERY! This is precisely why I consider the ASA a fucking failure of a stroke association! All those Ph. D's. and still not one useable brain cell amongst them!

Send me personal hate mail on this: oc1dean@gmail.com. I'll print your complete statement with your name and my response in my blog. Or are you afraid to engage with my stroke-addled mind? No excuses are allowed! You're medically trained; it should be simple to precisely state EXACTLY WHY you haven't worked at all on 100% recovery with NO EXCUSES! Your definition of competence in stroke is obviously much lower than stroke survivors' definition of your competence! Swearing at me is allowed, I'll return the favor. Don't even attempt to use the excuse that brain research is hard.

  Improving Access to Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery: A Policy Statement From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association

n Nneka L. Ifejika, MD, MPH, FAHA, Chair; Oluwole O. Awosika, MD; Terrie Black, DNP, MBA, FAHA; Pamela W. Duncan, PhD, FAHA; Richard L. Harvey, MD, FAHA; Douglas I. Katz, MD; Teresa J. Kimberley, PT, PhD; Barbara Lutz, PhD, RN, CRRN, PHNA-BC, FAHA; Flannery O’Neil, BA, MPH; Joel Stein, MD, FAHA; Anil V. Yallapragada, MD; Mathew J. Reeves, BVSc, PhD, Vice Chair Downloaded from http://ahajournals.org by on August 2, 2025 

 ABSTRACT: 

Stroke rehabilitation is an integral component of comprehensive stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!). Inequities in access to stroke rehabilitation can further widen the disability gap and disproportionately affect underinsured patients, patients living in rural areas, and patients from underrepresented races and ethnicities. However, even insured patients face obstacles to receiving stroke rehabilitation. The prior authorization process, peer-to-peer reviews, and subsequent appeals to health care insurers for the provision of postacute rehabilitation increase length of the acute care(NOT RECOVERY!) stay, placing pressure on health systems to expedite the transition of care(NOT RECOVERY!), to the detriment of appropriate postacute rehabilitation placement. This policy statement focuses on (1) the provision of quality stroke rehabilitation to prevent complications, facilitate recovery, and limit disability, (2) the creation of evidence-based policies to improve equitable access, effectiveness, and efficiency of postacute care(NOT RECOVERY!), (3) the development and use of performance measures that are aligned with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Guidelines for Adult Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery to incentivize optimal patient care(NOT RECOVERY!), and (4) identification of research priorities targeted to improve stroke rehabilitation access. This policy statement is a call for positive and sustained action.(Isn't stroke in your name, so YOU should be doing the action, instead of running away/) Stroke rehabilitation is the lifeline of hope for survivors, their caregivers, and their communities in the days, months, and years after stroke. It is imperative that governments and other funding agencies balance the support needed for acute stroke and stroke rehabilitation treatment, and that organizations, including the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association—an unrelenting advocate for improved brain health—advance the importance of stroke rehabilitation throughout the continuum of care(NOT RECOVERY!). Key Words: AHA Scientific Statements ◼ delivery of health care(NOT RECOVERY!) ◼ public policy ◼ quality of health care(NOT RECOVERY!) ◼ stroke ◼ stroke rehabilitation