Objective: The aim of this study was to provide benchmarking information for a large national sample of patients receiving inpatient rehabilitation because of a hip fracture.
Design: A secondary data analysis of records from 893 medical rehabilitation facilities located in the United States that contributed information to the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation from January 2000 through December 2007 was performed. 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, onset date, rehabilitation impairment group, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes for admitting diagnosis, comorbidities), and Functional Status Information (FIM instrument ratings at admission and discharge, FIM efficiency, and FIM gain).
Results: Descriptive statistics from 303,594 patients showed length of stay decreasing from a mean (SD) of 14.5 (7.9) days to 13.3 (5.5) days over the 8-yr study period. FIM total admission and discharge ratings also decreased. Mean admission ratings decreased from 72.5 (14.5) to 59.9 (15.7). Mean discharge ratings decreased from 95.8 (18.1) to 86.0 (19.8). FIM change per day remained relatively stable; mean for the entire sample was 2.1 (1.6). The percentage of persons discharged to the community also decreased across the study period, ranging from 77.8% in 2000 to 70.0% in 2007. All results are likely influenced by various policy changes affecting classification and/or documentation processes.
Conclusions: National rehabilitation data from persons with hip fracture in 2000-2007 indicate that patients are spending less time in inpatient rehabilitation care than in previous years and are experiencing improvements in functional independence during their stay. In addition, most patients are discharged to the community after inpatient rehabilitation.