The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) and rehabilitation research in a changing postacute landscape. The 2007 ACRM presidential address.

Abstract

Postacute rehabilitation is on the threshold of several major changes that have implications for rehabilitation practice and research. The most important of these is the desire of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to establish a uniform patient assessment method and implement a more setting-neutral prospective payment system across all major postacute settings. The proposed uniform patient assessment instrument will in all likelihood displace the FIM instrument as the industry standard. The rehabilitation research community needs to remain vigilant about the nature, scope, and measurement properties of the proposed uniform patient assessment instrument. A new instrument and setting-neutral payment system may provide new opportunities for service innovation and research. Neurorehabilitation has been one of the strengths of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM). ACRM needs to build on this strength and examine more earnestly the rehabilitation interventions and outcomes associated with the increasing prevalence of people with orthopedic and musculoskeletal conditions seen in rehabilitation centers today. ACRM's ability to do so will depend in part on its ability to join forces with other professional and consumer organizations to increase research funding significantly for each of the major federal agencies that currently fund rehabilitation research.