Impact of a financial incentive on early rehabilitation and outcomes in ICU patients: a retrospective database study in Japan.

Background: Early mobilisation of intensive care unit (ICU) patients has been recommended in clinical practice guidelines. Therefore, the Japanese universal health insurance system introduced an additional fee for early mobilisation and/or rehabilitation, which can be claimed by hospitals when starting rehabilitation of ICU patients within 48 hours after their ICU admission. However, the effect of this fee is unknown.