Predictors of rehabilitation outcomes: a comparison of Israeli and Italian geriatric post-acute care (PAC) facilities using the minimum data set (MDS).

Objectives: To understand the relative contribution of sociodemographic, clinical, and health care features to rehabilitation outcomes in Israel and in Italy in post-acute care (PAC) facilities.

Design: Prospective cross-national study

Setting: Two hospital geriatric PAC departments: Harzfeld Geriatric Hospital, Gedera, Israel, and Catholic University of Sacred Heart Geriatric Hospital, Rome, Italy.

Participants: Post-acute care patients aged 65 and older admitted consecutively for stabilization, improvement, or rehabilitation to 3 departments in Harzfeld Geriatric Hospital, Gedera, Israel from April, 1999 through February, 2002 (N = 364), and to the post-acute Geriatric Rehabilitation Unit of the "A.