The RCA is working with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) to assess the impact of COVID-19 on demand for rehabilitative services and anticipate future demand.

At the request of the RCA, ICES is analyzing data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and other sources to get a more thorough understanding of the utilization of rehabilitative services across the continuum for patients with COVID-19. Because ICES can access linked data, the analysis will follow the path of patients through hospital admission, ICU stay, discharge and in-home rehab care. The analysis will look at Ontario data from the period December 2020 to March 2021 to answer questions such as:

  • How many individuals were diagnosed with COVID-19 in that time period?
  • How many required hospital stays?
  • How many required ICU stays?
  • How many were admitted to inpatient rehabilitation?
  • What was their home care rehabilitation utilization post-discharge?

The analysis, which is expected in January 2022, will provide valuable insights to aid in longer term COVID-19 recovery planning. It is particularly relevant as more is learned about the rehabilitative needs of those recovering from COVID and those experiencing post COVID-19 condition (formerly known as long-COVID).

This work complements the information gathered through RCA’s province-wide surveys on the impact of COVID-19 on outpatient/inpatient capacity during the pandemic (conducted Spring 2020 and currently).