Defining Rehabilitation

Who is right for Encompass Health’s level of care?

Patients at rehabilitation hospitals typically receive at least three hours of therapy a day, five days a week. Have you ever thought your patient was too sick or weak for therapy, or maybe their pain would prevent them from participating? If so, we want to define what rehabilitation could like for these patients.

Just as all patients are unique, so are their goals and therapy. Give your patients the best chance in their recovery by sending them to Encompass Health, where we will design a care and therapy plan that meets them where they are in the healing process. 

Through an interdisciplinary approach that combines a hospital level of care with physical, occupational and speech therapies, our care team sets individualized goals designed to give patients their best opportunity to regain their independence and return home. 

Does your patient have one or more of these characteristics?

• Very limited mobility; at risk of skin breakdown
• Difficulty maintaining an upright or seated position
• May have IVs or catheters 
• May have pain due to muscle spasticity
• May be on multiple medications
• May have difficulty with swallowing and/or speech

Here is what therapy could look like for them

Many patients with very limited mobility and complex medical needs are not referred to inpatient rehabilitation because of the common misconception that they can’t withstand three hours of therapy a day. However, therapy doesn’t have to occur all at once; it can be broken down into as short 10- to 15-minute segments throughout the day.

Goals may also focus on cognition and basic self-care such as grooming, bathing and eating. Family and caregiver education is always a key component, as well.

Therapy for these patients doesn’t have to take place in a gym, either. It could start in the patient’s room at the bedside and progress to sitting and standing. The following are just a few examples of what therapy could look like.

What does a hospital level of care mean at Encompass Health?

This means that we have round-the-clock nursing and frequent, often daily visits with physicians to be there for your patient at all times. What makes us different? Our physicians are trained in rehabilitation, and many of our nurses are Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurses.

Our physicians, many of whom are physiatrists, work closely with patients to manage their pain, so they are able to participate in therapy—and are often able to do so using non-pharmaceutical options. 

Depending on the needs of the patient, their care may also include other specialized physicians, including pulmonologists and psychiatrists.

As a national network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, we created standardized programs in all our hospitals unique to Encompass Health designed to prevent patients from getting sick again and readmitting to the acute care hospital. Some of those programs and practices include:

• Wound and skin care program to prevent skin breakdown in less mobile patients 
• Infection control protocols specific to inpatient rehabilitation setting (even before COVID-19) 
• Respiratory therapy to prevent pneumonia and treat existing respiratory issues
• ReACT, a predictive model that alerts clinicians if a patient’s likelihood of readmitting to the acute care hospital has increased based on various signs and symptoms, allowing them to adjust the patient’s care accordingly to reduce the risk of a readmission
• Clinical collaboration practices with our home health segment —and other agencies—to provide a smooth transition to the home setting