Retrospective study demonstrating therapy time impact on inpatient rehabilitation functional gains

• Published in: Disability and rehabilitation 2022-08, Vol.44 (17), p.4639-4647
• Main Authors: Roberts, Pamela S., Ouellette, Debra, Solis, Nuvia, Walters, Robert, Chambers, Kathy, Brown, David, DiVita, Margaret A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: functional gains; hours of therapy; post-acute; rehabilitation; Therapy time
• ISSN: 0963-8288; 1464-5165
• DOI: 10.1080/09638288.2021.1912836

The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the association of total therapy time during inpatient rehabilitation and gain in functional independence for patients admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF). The study utilized a retrospective design that included all IRF patients from three IRFs in California from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2013. Patient data collected as part of usual, routine medical, and rehabilitation care were used and includes demographics, medical variables, and functional outcomes data. There were 3212 patients discharged from the three IRFs, with 2,777 patients having received speech language pathology (SLP) therapy along with occupational therapy and physical therapy. Speech language pathology services were not provided for 435 patients in the database. Our results support that among all types of patients, increased therapy hours were associated with increased functional gains. For total functional independence measure (FIM) gain, an additional hour of PT therapy per day was associated with an increase of 7.55 FIM gain points (p