• The patient is medically stable.
•The patient is sufficiently mentally alert and responsive to verbal or visual stimuli and is able to follow simple commands.
•The patient is able to actively participate in a minimum of three hours of therapy per day.
•The patient's deficits are such that he/she requires treatment by a multidisciplinary team, including rehabilitation nursing and at least two therapies (PT, OT, ST), in an acute inpatient rehabilitation setting. NOTE: Patients with global aphasia may be approved for inpatient rehabilitation in order to establish a safe and effective communication system.
•The patient's mental and physical condition prior to the illness or injury indicates there is significant potential for improvement.
•The expectation for improvement is reasonable, and the preferred discharge setting is home or a group home.

Discharge Criteria

Discharge from inpatient rehabilitation is appropriate when the following occur:

There is documentation of the patient's achievement of stated goals.

Daily multidisciplinary therapy is no longer indicated.

The patient's functional status has remained unchanged or additional functional improvement appears unlikely within a reasonable timeframe (7 to 14 days).

The level of rehabilitative care required could be safely rendered in an alternate, less intensive setting, e.g., outpatient therapy or home health.