A future model of musculoskeletal rehabilitation at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics: spanning the continuum of care.

Models of rehabilitation care vary widely within academic medical centers, with most housing their own inpatient rehabilitation units. The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics focuses both on acute hospital inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation care instead of leaving rehabilitation to local community-based hospitals. This article discusses a method to provide adult inpatient rehabilitation care, and simultaneously provide specialized rehabilitation teams capable of spanning the entire continuum of rehabilitative care from admission at a Level I Trauma Center to the conclusion of successful outpatient rehabilitation needs. The costs of implementation of this plan can be justified by avoiding increased expenses already being incurred in addition to successful capture of outpatient rehabilitation revenues.