Availability and Structure of Ambulatory Rehabilitation Services: A Survey of Hospitals with Designated Rehabilitation Beds in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the degree to which ambulatory physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), and speech language pathology (SLP) services are available in hospitals with designated rehabilitation beds (DRBs) in Ontario, and to explore the structure of delivery and funding among services that exist. Methods: Questions regarding ambulatory services were included in the System Integration and Change (SIC) survey sent to all hospitals participating in the Hospital Report 2005: Rehabilitation initiative. Results: The response rate was 75.9% (41 of 54 hospitals). All hospitals surveyed provide some degree of ambulatory rehabilitation services, but the nature of these services varies according to rehabilitation client groups (RCGs). The majority of hospitals continue to deliver services through their employees rather than by contracting out or by creating for-profit subsidiary clinics, but an increasing proportion is accessing private sources to finance ambulatory services. Conclusions: Most hospitals with DRBs provide some degree of ambulatory rehabilitation services. Privatization of delivery is not widespread in these facilities.