Efficacy and Cost over 12 Hospitalization Weeks of Postacute Care for Stroke

Few studies have investigated changes in functional outcomes and economic burden in patients in the postacute care cerebrovascular disease (PAC-CVD) program. We, for the first time, retrospectively investigated changes in functional performance and the national health insurance (NHI) cost over 12 PAC-CVD hospitalization weeks and evaluated the therapeutic effects of the PAC-CVD program on the NHI cost. Specifically, the functional outcomes and NHI cost of 263 stroke patients in the PAC-CVD program were analyzed. The repeated measures t test was used to compare functional performance over 0-3 weeks, and a one-way repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance was used to compare functional performance and NHI costs during weeks 0-6 and 0-9. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare functional performance over weeks 9-12. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to estimate the effects of functional performance on NHI costs during weeks 3, 6, and 9. Over weeks 0-12, all functional performance measures demonstrated significant improvements. Changes in NHI costs varied depending on whether hospitalization was extended. At any time point, functional performance did not have a significant impact on NHI cost. Therefore, the PAC-CVD program may aid patients with stroke in sustainably regaining functional performance and effectively controlling economic burden.