Post-acute traumatic brain injury rehabilitation: effects on outcome measures and life care costs

Rehabilitation is the predominant post-acute treatment for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). We retrospectively evaluated the effectiveness of post-acute TBI rehabilitation by comparing outcome measures and life care cost with that of patients with cerebrovascular accident (CVA) who underwent a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program within the same facility. To better assess the effects of rehabilitation, we only included patients with no benefit limitations from the insurance carrier. Functional effectiveness was determined by comparing outcome scales, which included the Disability Rating Scale, Mayo Portland Inventory, Occupational Status Scale, Living Status Scale, and the Centre for Neuro Skills Scale. Cost-effectiveness was determined by having certified life care planners create separate cost projections from the admission and discharge patient files. This allowed us to compare cost projections with and without rehabilitation for each patient. Significant decreases in the cost projections, i.e., rehabilitation savings (RS), were found after rehabilitation for TBI. These RS were equivalent to those of patients with CVA. Likewise, equivalent improvements were found on all of the outcome scales for both brain injury groups. We also evaluated if the latency from TBI to admission in the rehabilitation program had an influence on outcome. Cost and functional effectiveness was more marked when rehabilitation was initiated within the first year after TBI. The effects of age of TBI were also evaluated. Although RS were most marked in younger patients, improvements in outcome measures were observed in all age groups after post-acute rehabilitation.