ABSTRACT
Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a unique challenge for inpatient rehabilitation facilities to deliver safe and effective rehabilitation for patients recovering from COVID-19 and other rehabilitation diagnoses. There is a paucity of research assessing the effectiveness of inpatient rehabilitation on patients with COVID-19. The objective of this study was to compare post-acute rehabilitation outcomes of patients with debility and COVID-19 to outcomes of patients with debility only. Design(s): Retrospective Cohort Study Setting: Single inpatient rehabilitation facility Participants: Patients admitted for debility from April 1, 2020 to July 30, 2020. COVID-19 status was determined by a positive PCR test during the acute care or inpatient rehabilitation hospitalization period. Intervention(s): None Main Outcome Measure(s): Differences in admission and discharge functional performance scores (GG scores) and length of stay were compared. Rehabilitation efficiency, the average increase per day in functional performance score, was calculated. Result(s): 560 patients admitted for debility were reviewed. There were 83 (14.8%) patients admitted with COVID-19, who were on average 61 years old, male (55.4%), and African American (72.3%). Patients admitted with COVID-19 had a mean GG score gain of 26 points and median length of stay of 15 days. Patients admitted without COVID-19 had a mean GG score gain of 18 and median length of stay of 15 days. Compared to patients without COVID-19, patients with COVID-19 had a comparable length of stay but a significantly increased change in GG score at discharge (p < 0.001) and higher rehabilitation efficiency (p=0.001). Conclusion(s): There was a significantly greater improvement in GG scores and rehabilitation efficiency for patients with debility and COVID-19 compared to patients with debility without COVID-19. Our findings suggest that patients with debility and COVID- 19 benefit from acute inpatient rehabilitation and may be even more amenable to intensive therapeutic rehabilitation compared to patients with debility without COVID-19.