The uniform data system for medical rehabilitation: Report of patients with stroke discharged from comprehensive medical programs in 2000-2007

Objective: To provide benchmarking information for a large national sample of patients receiving inpatient rehabilitation after a stroke. Design: 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. Results: 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® 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. Conclusion: 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.