The changing nature of ambulatory rehabilitation programs and services in a managed care environment

Rehabilitation providers have been experiencing the impact of managed care on their services for many years. However, the outpatient, or ambulatory, segments of rehabilitation and their inpatient counterparts are being reshaped differently by this payment source. Because most ambulatory patients do not originate from an inpatient setting, managed care contracts directly with providers rather than flowing contracts through the hospital setting. Thus, ambulatory rehabilitation, more than other elements of the rehabilitation industry, is dependent on contracting to ensure patient flow.