Rehabilitation UCLA Partnership Will Expand Rehab Services for Los Angeles UCLA Health is partnering with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to dramatically expand the availability of acute rehabilitation services in Los Angeles. The California Rehabilitation Institute, scheduled to open early next year, will be a freestanding, 138-bed acute rehab hospital in Century City that will more than triple the number of beds currently available for rehabilitation at the two facilities. In addition to the combined expertise of the two prominent healthcare organizations, the effort includes a managing partner, Select Medical, which treats more than 60,000 patients a day at its rehabilitation facilities around the country. “This joint venture between UCLA Health and Cedars-Sinai will not only significantly expand the availability of rehabilitation services in the community, but through a consolidated, coordinated and experienced group working under the same roof, we will be able to achieve a level of quality and specialization of services that neither organization could have provided alone,” says David N. Alexander, MD, medical director of the California Rehabilitation Institute and UCLA’s Neurological Rehabilitation and Research Unit. Featuring the latest treatment protocols and equipment, along with 24-hour availability of medical care, the specialized rehabilitation hospital will have all private rooms, with a therapy gym on each floor. The institute will admit patients from both UCLA and Cedars- Sinai, as well as other hospitals and skilled- nursing facilities and, occasionally, directly from patients’ homes. About half of the patients will be recovering from neurological diagnoses, including stroke, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury, Dr. Alexander says. Patients at the facility will follow an intensive regimen, including treatment by various rehabilitation specialists each day. On-site staff and physical, occupational, speech and recreation therapists, as well as social workers, psychologists and neuropsychologists, will work with physicians to develop an individualized program designed to meet each patient’s rehabilitation goals while ensuring that any comorbid or concurrent medical problems are addressed. “It is extremely important to have acute rehabilitation available to patients, and there has been a major unmet need,” Dr. Alexander says. “Hospital stays are shorter than in the past, and as improved therapies have become available, we are now seeing more people recover who would have otherwise remained more significantly impaired. These patients often need assistance to improve their mobility and their ability to perform basic daily activities. Acute rehabilitation improves recovery, reduces morbidity and mortality, increases the likelihood of home discharge and allows patients to become more independent.” “This joint venture between UCLA Health and Cedars-Sinai … will be able to achieve a level of quality and specialization of services that neither organization could have provided alone.” 3 UCLA Physicians Update