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Final Program


Final Program

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

1209 - Who Goes Home? Demographic and Social Predictors of Post-Rehabilitation Discharge Outcomes

Thursday, February 19, 2026
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM AST
Objectives: Physiatrists are essential to the interdisciplinary approach of discharge planning from an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF). Decision making surrounding discharge destinations is multifactorial with personal and social factors influencing discharge planning. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between discharge destination from an IRF and patient demographics and social factors.  

Design: Seven hundred thirty-eight electronic medical records from patients discharged from an IRF between January 1 to December 31, 2022, were reviewed based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data was obtained through manual chart review using the EPIC Slicer Dicer tool. The primary dichotomous outcome variable was the discharge destination that included home or non-home setting. The demographic and social variables of interest included: race, complexity code, Rehabilitation Impairment Code (RIC), payer source, presence of indoor stairs (yes or no), and pre-admission living setting (alone vs not alone). The RIC was treated as a binary variable based on a neurological versus non-neurological diagnosis and complexity code was held as a continuous variable. A multiple logistic regression was used to predict discharge destination based on demographic and social predictor variables with a significance level of 0.05.

Results: The results of the logistic regression indicate that patients are more likely to be discharged home if they were black (OR: 1.99, p = 0.01), did not have a neurological RIC (OR: 2.13, p = 0.006), and did not have indoor stairs (OR: 1.81; p =0.02). Additionally, patients with a higher complexity code were less likely to be discharged home (OR: 0.72; p= 0.02). Payer source and pre-admission living setting were not significant predictors of discharge destination.

Conclusions: These findings highlight disparities in discharge outcomes among patients undergoing acute inpatient rehabilitation. Race, diagnosis, and indoor stairs play a crucial role in determining whether patients return home or transition to alternative care settings