Along with helping you understand the scope of world-class rehabilitative services available at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, it is important to address a few common misconceptions about Medicare guidelines for rehabilitation hospitals, dispel the myths surrounding inpatient rehabilitation and describe how HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital is redefining rehabilitative care.

Fact: Many medically complex patients require inpatient rehabilitation.
At HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, a case manager will coordinate the most appropriate plan of care based on your patient's individual needs. Your patient will also be cared for by a team of rehabilitation specialists that understand that some medical conditions, and their subsequent treatments, can result in low endurance. In fact, nationwide, 72 percent of our patients are considered medically complex, with six or more diagnoses. These cases require proper medical care to facilitate rehabilitation.

According to Medicare, "A patient who has a medical complication in addition to his or her primary conditions, so that the continuing availability of a physician is required to ensure safe and effective treatment, probably requires a hospital level of rehabilitation care." Medicare also addresses the coverage criteria for inpatient rehabilitation: "An inpatient stay for rehabilitation care can also be covered even though the patient has a secondary diagnosis or medical complication that prevents him or her from participating in a program consisting of three hours of therapy a day. Inpatient hospital care in these cases may be the only reasonable means by which even a low-intensity rehabilitation program may be carried out." Because we know that many patients are medically complex, we offer a number of unique benefits designed specifically for their needs. These include:

• Physician coverage 24 hours a day
• Consistent staffing patterns throughout the continuum of care, ensuring the same set of caregivers (nurses, therapists, etc.) follows the patient through their inpatient stay, day program and outpatient visits
• Specially trained rehabilitation nursing staff and multidisciplinary team
• Education for the patient and family on the patient's medical conditions and rehabilitation needs

Fact: Your patient's condition/abilities dictate the level of rehabilitation at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital. Medicare recognizes that an inpatient stay for rehabilitation care can be covered even though the patient has a secondary diagnosis or medical complication that prevents him or her from participating in a program consisting of three hours of therapy a day.

If you are concerned that your patient may not be able to participate in three hours of physical, occupational or speech therapy, Medicare will allow us to provide your patient with an evaluation and trial period to assess your patient's immediate and future ability to benefit from an inpatient rehabilitation program. Your patient will also benefit from HealthSouth's Rehabilitation Hospital physician-directed rehabilitative nursing and therapy services, delivered to help each patient achieve his or her rehabilitation goals.

At HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, the patient's individualized plan of care is reviewed weekly to ensure progress toward personal rehabilitation goals. By continually analyzing and adjusting the plan of care, therapy progresses as the patient's tolerance, endurance and medical condition improve. HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital also provides therapeutic services seven days a week to further enhance the patient's opportunity to achieve his or her individual rehabilitation goals.

Fact: As a speciality hospital, HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital has different coverage criteria than an acute care hospital. First, we want to clarify what CMS-13 means. A rehabilitation hospital is a speciality hospital, meaning it is in a different category than an acute care hospital. When CMS established diagnostic related groups (DRGs) for acute care, it also established specific criteria for an acute care rehabilitation hospital. In order to quality for an acute rehabilitation designation, 75 percent of all patients admitted must have a primary diagnosis that falls within one of 13 different CMS-13 categories, including:

• Active polyarticular Rheumatoid Arthiritis
• Amputation
• Brain Injury
• Burns
• Congenital Deformity
• Fracture Femur
• Hip & Knee Replacement
• Major Multiple Trauma
• Neurologic Disorders: including Multiple Sclerosis, Motor neuron disease, encephalopathy, polyneuropathy, Muscular Dystrophy, Parkinson's, mylopathy, radiculopathy, Guillian Barre, and ALS
• Osteoarthritis or Degenerative jointÊdisease involving 2 or more weight bearing joints
• Spinal Cord Injury
• Stroke
• Systemic Vaculidities w/joint inflammation: including temporal arteritis, polymyalgia, rheumatica, PMR and Lupis

The other 25 percent may have cardiac, pulmonary or other disabling conditions that require the skills and expertise of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team led by a physician specially trained in rehabilitation medicine. For these patients, HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital offers the following non-CMS-13 specialty rehabilitation programs:

• Cardiac
• Day program (alternative to placement in a skilled nursing facility)
• Oncology
• Pediatrics
• Pulmonary
• Wound

In addition to our rehabilitation physicians, we have other physicians who specialize in orthopedic medicine, pulmonary medicine and other areas. These physicians are ready to treat conditions and improve the recovery of both traditional and nontraditional rehabilitation patients in a more cost-effective setting.

At HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, our experience speaks for itself. We are the nation's largest provider of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services, with 96 rehabilitation hospitals, 27 rehabilitation management units and 239 outpatient sites affilitated with our rehabilitation hospitals network. Our network was built on a comprehensive approach producing measurable functional outcomes that are superior to the national average -- making HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital the source for cost-effective, value-driven rehabilitative care.

When you consider the intensity of rehabilitation services offered at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, along with the length of treatment, cost and results achieved, it is clear HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital is the best value in rehabilitative care.

But don't just take our word for it, look at the facts: we discharge more than 80,000 patients back to their communities each year, and HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital regularly exceeds the national average for patient advocacy, meaning more of our patients say they would recommend a HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital facility to others*.

Now it's up to you. As your patients prepare to take the next step on the road to recovery offer then the advanced resources, innovative care and rehabilitative expertise readily available at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital.

* National Research Corporation, 1997-1999.