Feasibility of collecting patient-reported outcomes for inpatient rehabilitation quality reporting
OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate rehabilitation inpatients' willingness and ability to complete patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and the burden of completion on patients and staff.
DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING:
Two inpatient rehabilitation facilities.
STUDY DESIGN:
Patients with neurological disorders were assigned randomly to receive a nominal monetary incentive during or 1 month after the stay.
DATA COLLECTION:
Patients responded using a tablet computer or paper.
PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:
Of the 1,055 admissions, 74 percent were eligible, and 51 percent of eligible patients completed the survey. Most answered without assistance. A majority completed the survey 1 month after discharge; incentive timing was unrelated to postdischarge completion. Half of the 285 follow-up respondents required at least two reminder calls.
CONCLUSIONS:
Collection of PROs from rehabilitation patients is feasible. Results inform policy makers regarding feasibility of PRO data in evaluating rehabilitation quality.
Citation
Heinemann, A. W., Deutsch, A. F., Cella, D., Cook, KF., Rasmussen Foster, L., Miskovic, A., ... Goldsmith, A. (2018). Feasibility of collecting patient-reported outcomes for inpatient rehabilitation quality reporting. Health Services Research, 53(3), 1834-1850. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.12729
