Rehab Care Standards

The RCA’s bedded and community-based frameworks establish standardized levels of care for rehabilitative care programs to provide clarity for patients, families and referring professionals and support planning at the local and regional level. The RCA’s evidence-based resource (primer) for OHTs outlines how rehabilitative care can improve outcomes in primary care, hospitals and the community.

Rehab Care Standards
RCA Framework for Bedded Levels of Rehabilitative Care (Updated March 2023)	This updated framework defines four bedded levels of rehabilitative care: Rehabilitation Activation/ Restoration, Short-term and Long-term Complex Medical Management. Updates include separate descriptions for high and low-intensity rehab in the Rehabilitation level; the role of rehab in acute care; use of virtual rehab; and greater clarity on the amounts of therapy in each bedded level.
Key Features of RCA Bedded Levels of Rehabilitative Care (Updated March 2023)	Key features of the 4 bedded levels of rehabilitative care.
Definitions Framework for Community Based Levels of Rehabilitative Care (March 2015)	Framework defines two levels of rehabilitative care provided in the community (rehabilitative care focused on progression and rehabilitative care focused on maintenance). Definitions for each level describe care goal, target population, medical/allied health resources and focus of therapy services.
Key Features of RCA Community Based Levels of Rehabilitative Care	Key features of the 2 community based levels of rehabilitative care.
Standardized Referral Resources
Rehabcareontario.ca	RCA provincial portal for rehabilitative care provides general information about rehab. Can be used by providers and the public to find rehabilitative care services across the province.
Fillable Template for Creating Program/Service Information for rehabcareontario.ca (May 2019)	Fillable template supports a standardized way of describing bedded and community-based rehabilitative care programs/services. Used to gather the necessary information for a rehabcareontario.ca listing. It replaces the Bedded and Community Referral Options tools.
Referral Decision Tree for Rehabilitative Care (December 2014)	Decision tree for community and bedded levels.
Eligibility Criteria for Bedded Levels of Rehabilitative Care (Spring 2023)	Eligibility criteria for bedded levels.
Patient/Caregiver Information Letters for Bedded Levels of Rehabilitative Care (March 2023) • Rehabilitation • Activation/Restoration • Short Term Complex Medical Management	Brief, standardized information letters describing the levels of care.
Provincial Referral Standards (PRS) Referral Form and Reference Guide (updated May 2018)	Updated to be consistent with framework. Used for referrals from acute care to inpatient rehab and CCC.

Rehabilitative Care Primer
Patient and System-Level Benefits of Rehabilitative Care: A primer to support planning by OHTs and Ontario Health provides an accessible overview of current evidence to help OHTs better understand the role rehabilitative care can play in improving outcomes. Primer overview Full document Table of Contents Section 1 – Introduction Section 2 – Benefits of rehabilitative care: Overview of benefits to patients and system; potential costs/risks of absence of timely access; rehabilitative care and COVID-19 Section 3 – About rehab professionals: Brief descriptions of rehab professionals and their areas of expertise Section 4 – Rehab in primary care, Section 5 – Rehab in inpatient settings, Section 6 – Rehab in home and ambulatory settings: Patient and system-level benefits; sector-specific information on rehab post-injury/illness, rehab for progressive/chronic conditions and rehab for prevention Appendix A – Primary care, Appendix B – Inpatient, Appendix C – In-home & ambulatory: Additional considerations for populations/conditions typically requiring rehabilitative care; links to resources/research literature * Note: The RCA has now adopted the more inclusive language of ‘rehabilitation in outpatient/community clinics’.

Rehabilitative Care Primer

Patient and System-Level Benefits of Rehabilitative Care: A primer to support planning by OHTs and Ontario Health provides an accessible overview of current evidence to help OHTs better understand the role rehabilitative care can play in improving outcomes.

Primer overview
Full document
Table of Contents
Section 1 – Introduction
Section 2 – Benefits of rehabilitative care: Overview of benefits to patients and system; potential costs/risks of absence of timely access; rehabilitative care and COVID-19
Section 3 – About rehab professionals: Brief descriptions of rehab professionals and their areas of expertise
Section 4 – Rehab in primary care, Section 5 – Rehab in inpatient settings, Section 6 – Rehab in home and ambulatory settings*: Patient and system-level benefits; sector-specific information on rehab post-injury/illness, rehab for progressive/chronic conditions and rehab for prevention
Appendix A – Primary care, Appendix B – Inpatient, Appendix C – In-home & ambulatory*: Additional considerations for populations/conditions typically requiring rehabilitative care; links to resources/research literature

* Note: The RCA has now adopted the more inclusive language of ‘rehabilitation in outpatient/community clinics’.