Not all stroke rehab facilities are equal: What's best for you?

Earlier this week, I posted an item about avoiding readmission to a hospital.

Now, here's a story about a facility that might help with that, too - in-patient facilities better for stroke rehab:

The report warned that as systems of care evolve in response to healthcare reform, "post-acute care and rehabilitation are often considered a costly area of care to be trimmed" with little recognition of their impact on patient outcomes.

"Stroke rehab is not considered very sexy, but it turns out that it can have a huge impact on quality of life and function," Winstein told MedPage Today.

The writing group noted that stroke rehabilitation services, as currently delivered in the U.S., are broad and "highly heterogeneous, varying in the type of care settings used; in the duration, intensity, and type of interventions delivered; and in the degree of involvement of specific medical, nursing and other rehabilitation specialists."

"The intensity of rehabilitation care varies widely, depending on the setting, with the most intensive rehabilitation care provided in (certified) inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), followed by skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), which provide 'subacute' rehabilitation," the group wrote.