BACKGROUND: Rehabilitations in subacute phase are different from acute treatments regarding the characteristics and required resource consumption of the treatments. Lack of accuracy and validity of the Korean Diagnosis Related Group and Korean Out-Patient Group for the acute patients as the case-mix and payment tool for rehabilitation inpatients have been problematic issues. The objective of the study was to develop the Korean Rehabilitation Patient Group (KRPG) reflecting the characteristics of rehabilitation inpatients. METHODS: As a retrospective medical record survey regarding rehabilitation inpatients, 4,207 episodes were collected through 42 hospitals. Considering the opinions of clinical experts and the decision-tree analysis, the variables for the KRPG system demonstrating the characteristics of rehabilitation inpatients were derived, and the splitting standards of the relevant variables were also set. Using the derived variables, we have drawn the rehabilitation inpatient classification model reflecting the clinical situation of Korea. The performance evaluation was conducted on the KRPG system. RESULTS: The KRPG was targeted at the inpatients with brain or spinal cord injury. The etiologic disease, functional status (cognitive function, activity of daily living, muscle strength, spasticity, level and grade of spinal cord injury), and the patient's age were the variables in the rehabilitation patients. The algorithm of KRPG system after applying the derived variables and total 204 rehabilitation patient groups were developed. The KRPG explained 11.8% of variance in charge for rehabilitation inpatients. It also explained 13.8% of variance in length of stay for them. CONCLUSION: The KRPG version 1.0 reflecting the clinical characteristics of rehabilitation inpatients was classified as 204 groups.
Brain ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Korea ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records ; Muscle Spasticity ; Muscle Strength ; Outpatients ; Rehabilitation* ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord ; Spinal Cord Injuries

Background: and PurposeInterhospital transfer is an essential practical component of regional stroke care systems. To establish an effective stroke transfer network in South Korea, an interactive transfer system was constructed, and its workflow metrics were observed. Methods: In March 2019, a direct transfer system between primary stroke hospitals (PSHs) and comprehensive regional stroke centers (CSCs) was established to standardize the clinical pathway of imaging, recanalization therapy, transfer decisions, and exclusive transfer linkage systems in the two types of centers. In an active case, the time metrics from arrival at PSH (“door”) to imaging was measured, and intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and endovascular treatment (EVT) were used to assess the differences in clinical situations. Results: The direct transfer system was used by 27 patients. They stayed at the PSH for a median duration of 72 min (interquartile range [IQR], 38–114 min), with a median times of 15 and 58 min for imaging and subsequent processing, respectively. The door-to-needle median times of subjects treated with IVT at PSHs (n=5) and CSCs (n=2) were 21 min (IQR, 20.0–22.0 min) and 137.5 min (IQR, 125.3–149.8 min), respectively. EVT was performed on seven subjects (25.9%) at CSCs, which took a median duration of 175 min; 77 min at the PSH, 48 min for transportation, and 50 min at the CSC. Before EVT, bridging IVT at the PSH did not significantly affect the door-to-puncture time (127 min vs. 143.5 min, p=0.86). Conclusions The direct and interactive transfer system is feasible in real-world practice in South Korea and presents merits in reducing the treatment delay by sharing information during transfer.