New Rehab Hospitals Designed to Meet the Changing Needs of Today’s Seniors

By Frederick Frost, MD

Today’s older patients are much less disabled than in past years, and when they need to recover from surgeries or injuries, they are able to tolerate more intense rehabilitation programs. This dynamic is one of the drivers behind the creation of a new wave of rehabilitation hospitals across the United States. At Cleveland Clinic, we opened one such hospital last year and have two more under construction, with openings set for late 2017.

These facilities are designed specifically for today’s patients. They offer an intense schedule – patients typically receive three to four hours of therapy a day – as well as lower readmission rates and shorter average lengths of stay (10 to 14 days) than skilled nursing facilities (26 to 30 days).

There are many theories about why today’s patients are better able to tolerate such intense therapy. These include better lifetime nutrition, a cleaner environment, access to modern orthopedic restoration surgeries, and safer workplaces. Thirty years ago, our hospitals were full of stroke patients with dense paralysis, many of whom were never going to be discharged home. Today, we see more transient ischemic attacks and ministrokes, from which patients can recover more readily.

Academic setting for PM&R physicians

Cleveland Clinic’s rehab hospitals are designed to maximize safe, appropriate transitions of care for these patients. They are staffed by PM&R physicians and a range of other specialists, who access our electronic medical records to ensure continuity of care as patients move from an acute care setting to a rehabilitation hospital, or to a home care setting and outpatient therapy services.

Our new rehab hospitals also offer great training opportunities for our newly launched physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program. Physicians who complete this innovative three-year program will find themselves uniquely positioned to deliver care that meets the needs of today’s seniors.

Partnership key to success

Acute rehabilitation hospitals are a niche area of medical care delivery, and Cleveland Clinic leadership recognized that it was imperative to have a strong partner to help us succeed in this arena. We are proud to have chosen Select Medical to help us create these new facilities, after nearly a decade of vetting potential partners. Select Medical is a large, strong national organization that has a successful history of working with premier academic medical centers. Matching Select’s management and clinical programming experience with Cleveland Clinic’s physicians, midlevel providers and EMR technology lays the groundwork for providing innovative rehabilitation care for our patients.

Dr. Frost is chairman of Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.