Conditions We Treat

Our inpatient rehabilitation team is highly experienced in rehabilitation therapies for a wide range of conditions and injuries, including the most complex cases.

This includes:

• Arthritic syndromes
• Brain injuries (traumatic and/or non-traumatic), including encephalitis, brain tumors and hypoxic encephalopathy
• Cancer
• Debility (physical weakness)
• Fractures, including hip, pelvis and femur fractures and/or major multiple fractures
• Heart conditions, such as:
  • Congestive heart failure
  • Coronary artery disease
• Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) patients
• Limb amputations (upper and lower extremity)
• Major multiple traumas
• Mobility issues
• Neurological conditions, such as:
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Critical illness myopathy
  • Guillian-Barré syndrome
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Parkinson’s disease
• Organ transplantation, including:
  • Heart transplants
  • Kidney transplants
  • Liver transplants
  • Lung transplants
• Orthopedic conditions, such as
  • Hip replacements
  • Knee replacements
• Speech or communication issues
• Spinal cord injuries (traumatic and/or non-traumatic)
• Stroke

Our team uses the latest advances in rehabilitation medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy to help you improve physical and/or cognitive impairments due to a major injury, surgical procedure or illness.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get inpatient rehabilitation care at Keck Medicine of USC’s Acute Rehabilitation Unit?

To start, you need a patient assessment. All patients are evaluated prior to admission to determine their potential to participate in and benefit from inpatient rehabilitation. This includes a review of their medical, physical and cognitive condition, previous and current levels of function, and psychosocial and cultural background.

How do you decide who is admitted to the USC Acute Rehabilitation Unit?

To participate in our inpatient rehabilitation program, patients must meet the following guidelines.

1. Patients must require active and ongoing therapeutic services (one service must be physical or occupational therapy), such as:

• • Physical therapy
  • Occupational therapy
  • Speech-language therapy
  • Prosthetics/orthotics care

2. Patients are required to need an intensive rehabilitation program, made up of at least three hours of therapy per day, at least five days a week.
3. Patients are expected to be able to actively participate in, and benefit significantly from, intensive rehabilitation therapy during their stay with the goal of returning home safely.
4. Patients must require nursing supervision and face-to-face visits from a physiatrist, a doctor specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, at least three days per week during the patient’s stay in the rehabilitation unit.
5. Patients must need an intensive and coordinated approach to rehabilitation from an interdisciplinary medical team.

Do you accept referrals? 

We accept patient referrals from several sources, including:

• • Private physicians
  • Hospitals
  • Other post-acute providers
  • Insurance companies
  • Agencies serving persons with disabilities

Referral patients may be admitted from a hospital, surgery center, clinic, skilled nursing and long-term care facilities, as well as from home.

A Successful Rehab Program for Patients

Our USC Acute Rehabilitation Unit at Keck Medicine is one of the top-ranked rehabilitation programs in California. Our patient outcomes consistently rate above national standards in several categories.

Overall Discharge Rates

• Keck Medicine’s discharged-to-home rate: 85.4%¹
• National discharged-to-home rate: 81.1%²
  

Patients may be discharged to their home and/or with family and caregivers, as well as other options, including board and care facilities, assisted living facilities and transitional-living facilities.

^{1 & 2} “UDS-PRO Comprehensive Performance Report,” Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, a division of UB Foundation Activities, Inc.,12/22/2021-12/21/2022, accessed Jan.13, 2023.

Spinal Cord Injury Discharge Rates 

• Keck Medicine’s spinal cord injury discharged-to-community rate: 84%³
• National discharged-to-community rate: 79.1%⁴

^{3 & 4} “UDS-PRO Executive Summary Report – Cases Discharged,” Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, a division of UB Foundation Activities, Inc.,12/22/2021-12/21/2022 (combination of non-traumatic and traumatic spinal cord injuries), accessed Jan.13, 2023. 

Neurological Conditions Discharge Rates

• Keck Medicine’s neurological condition discharged-to-community rate: 82.1%⁵
• National discharged-to-community rate: 80.9%⁶

Neurological conditions include multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Guillain-Barré syndrome, cerebral palsy and critical illness myopathy.

^{5 & 6} “UDS-PRO Executive Summary Report – Cases Discharged,” Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, a division of UB Foundation Activities, Inc.,12/22/2021-12/21/2022, accessed Jan.13, 2023.

Average Expected Length of Stay 

• Keck Medicine’s average expected length of stay: 13.1 days⁷  
• Medicare and Case Mix Group (CMS-CMG) average expected length of stay: 14.1 days⁸

We understand that being hospitalized is challenging for patients and their families. That’s why our main goal is improving your mobility and health, so you can get back home to your loved ones. Our average expected length of stay is one day shorter than the national expected average.

^{7 & 8} “UDS LOS Variance Report,” Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, a division of UB Foundation Activities, Inc.,12/20/2021-12/20/2022, accessed Jan.13, 2023.