U.S. News to incorporate certain AHA, quality data into future IRF rankings

U.S. News & World Report plans to incorporate certain data from the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Compare website and the AHA Annual Survey Database into its 2020-21 Best Hospitals for Rehabilitation rankings, and encourages IRFs and acute-care hospitals with inpatient rehabilitation units to make sure the relevant data are complete. “To ensure that all hospitals are evaluated based on what they offer to patients, we recommend that all hospitals providing inpatient rehab care respond to the current AHA survey,” said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News. The publisher plans to update the hospital and rehabilitation facility community as it develops the new methodology, and recommends registering to receive free updates through its Best Hospitals Dashboard, among other actions. The rankings currently are based solely on the opinion of physicians who specialize in physical medicine and rehabilitation, as measured by the annual U.S. News physician survey.