Provision of Rehabilitation Services in Residential Care Facilities: Evidence From a National Survey.

Objective: To examine the association between organizational factors and provision of rehabilitation services that include physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) in residential care facilities (RCFs) in the United States.

Design: A cross-sectional, observational study conducted using a national sample from the 2010 National Survey of Residential Care Facilities conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

Settings: U.S. RCFs.

Participants: RCFs (N=2302; weighted sample, 31,134 RCFs).

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: The association between characteristics of the facilities, director and staff, and residents, and provision of PT and OT services was assessed using multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Results: Among all RCFs in the United States, 43.9% provided PT and 40.0% provided OT. Medicaid-certified RCFs, larger-sized RCFs, RCFs with a licensed director, RCFs that used volunteers, and RCFs with higher personal care aide hours per patient per day were more likely to provide both PT and OT, while private, for-profit RCFs were less likely to provide PT and OT. RCFs with a higher percentage of white residents were more likely to provide PT, while RCFs with chain affiliation were more likely to provide OT.

Conclusions: Less than half of the RCFs in the United States provide PT and OT, and this provision of therapy services is associated with organizational characteristics of the facilities. Future research should explore the effectiveness of rehabilitation services in RCFs on residents' health outcomes.