Objective To determine the impact of post acute care site on stroke outcomes. Following a stroke, patients may receive post acute care in a number of different sites: inpatient rehabilitation (IRF), skilled nursing facility (SNF), and home health care/outpatient (HH/OP). We hypothesized that patients who received IRF would have better six-month functional outcomes than those who received care in other settings after controlling for patient characteristics. Design Prospective Cohort Study. Setting Four Northern California hospitals which are part of a single health maintenance organization. Participants 222 patients with stroke enrolled between February 2008 and July 2010. Intervention Not Applicable. Main Outcome Measure Baseline and 6 month assessments were performed using the Activity Measure for Post Acute Care (AM-PAC™), a test of self-reported function in three domains: Basic Mobility, Daily Activities, and Applied Cognition. Results Of the 222 patients analyzed, 36% went home with no treatment, 22% received HH/OP care, 30% included IRF in their care trajectory, and 13% included SNF (but not IRF) in their care trajectory. At six months, after controlling for important variables such as age, functional status at acute care discharge, and total hours of rehabilitation, patients who went to an IRF had functional scores that were at least 8 points higher (twice the minimally detectable change for the AM-PAC) than those who went to a SNF in all 3 domains and in two out of three functional domains compared to those who received HH/OP care. Conclusions Patients with stroke may make more functional gains if their post-acute care includes an IRF. This finding may have important implications as post-acute care delivery is reshaped through health care reform.

The study demonstrated a significant relationship between daily therapeutic duration and functional gain during IRH stay and showed treatment time thresholds for optimal functional outcomes for patients in inpatient rehabilitation who had a stroke.

OBJECTIVE This study assessed the impact of an Internet-delivered care management and patient self-management program, eCare for Moods, on patients treated for recurrent or chronic depression. METHODS Patients with recurrent or chronic depression were randomly assigned to eCare (N=51) or usual specialty mental health care (N=52). The 12-month eCare program integrates with ongoing depression care, links to patients' electronic medical records, and provides clinicians with panel management and decision support. Participants were interviewed at baseline and six, 12, 18, and 24 months after enrollment. Telephone interviewers blind to treatment used a timeline follow-back method to estimate depression severity on a 6-point scale for each of the 105 study weeks (including the baseline). Differences between groups in weekly severity over two years were examined by generalized estimating equations. RESULTS Participants in eCare experienced more reduction in depressive symptoms (estimate=-.74 on the 6-point scale over two years; 95% confidence interval [CI]=-1.38 to -.09, p=.025) and were less often depressed (-.24 over two years; CI=-.46 to -.03, p=.026). At 24 months, 43% of eCare and 30% of usual-care participants were depression free; the number needed to treat to attain one additional depression-free participant was 8. eCare participants had other favorable outcomes: improved general mental health (p=.002), greater satisfaction with specialty care (p=.003) and with learning new coping skills (p<.001), and more confidence in managing depression (p=.006). CONCLUSIONS Internet-delivered care management can help improve outcomes of patients treated for recurrent or chronic depression.

Objective To determine whether there are disparities in postacute stroke rehabilitation based on type of stroke, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, age, socioeconomic status, geographic region, or service area referral patterns in a large integrated health system with multiple levels of care. Design Cohort study tracking rehabilitation services for 365 days after acute hospitalization for a first stroke. Setting The Northern California Kaiser Permanente Health System (approximately 3.3 million membership population) Participants A total of 11,119 patients hospitalized for acute stroke from 1996 to 2003. The cohort includes patients discharged from acute care after a stroke. Postacute care rehabilitation services were evaluated according to the level of care ever-received within the 365 days after discharge from acute care, including inpatient rehabilitation hospital (IRH), skilled nursing facility (SNF), home health and outpatient, or no rehabilitation services. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure Service delivery. Results Patients discharged to an IRH had longer lengths of stay in acute care. Patients with hemorrhagic stroke were less likely to be treated in an IRH. Patients whose highest level of rehabilitation was SNF were older and more likely to be women. After adjusting for age and other covariates, women were less likely to go to an IRH than men. Asian and black patients were more likely than white patients to be treated in an IRH or SNF. Also more likely to go to an IRH were patients from higher socioeconomic groups, from urban areas, and from geographic areas close to the regional rehabilitation hospital. Conclusions These results suggest variation in care delivery and extent of postacute care based on differences in patient demographics and geographic factors. Results also varied over time. Some minority populations in this cohort appeared to be more likely to receive IRH care, possibly because of disease severity, family support systems, cultural factors, or differences in referral patterns.

Background and Purpose Our objective was to examine the agreement between adult patients with stroke and family member or clinician proxies in Activity Measure for Post Acute Care (AM-PAC) summary scores for daily activity, basic mobility, and applied cognitive function. Methods This study involved 67 patients with stroke admitted to a hospital within the Kaiser Permanente of Northern California system and were participants in a parent study on stroke outcomes. Each participant and proxy respondent completed the AM-PAC by personal or telephone interview at the point of hospital discharge and/or during one or more transitions to different post-acute care settings. Results The results suggest that for patients with a stroke proxy AM-PAC data are robust for family or clinician proxy assessment of basic mobility function, clinician proxy assessment of daily activity function, but less robust for family proxy assessment of daily activity function and for all proxy groups’ assessment of applied cognitive function. The pattern of disagreement between patient and proxy was, on average, relatively small and random. There was little evidence of systematic bias between proxy and patient reports of their functional status. The degree of concordance between patient and proxy was similar for those with moderate to severe strokes compared with mild strokes. Conclusions Patient and proxy ratings on the AM-PAC achieved adequate agreement for use in stroke research where using proxy respondents could reduce sample selection bias. The AM-PAC data can be implemented across institutional as well as community care settings while achieving precision and reducing respondent burden.