Outcomes - By the Numbers

From the first day kids receive rehabilitative care at Phoenix Children’s, our team stays focused on their goals and ours. We want to help them to grow stronger, do more, gain confidence and – as soon as possible – go home. 

Tracking specific measures of success helps us to find the best ways to treat your child or adolescent. We can see what works best and use the most motivating, innovative and effective equipment, facilities and methods to develop ideal therapy plans.

The numbers tell us:

• How efficiently and effectively we’re providing our services
• How well and how soon our patients are gaining critical skills and functions
• Whether we’re providing access to great care for all patients with all types of conditions and care needs
• Where there are new opportunities to develop our program

These results guide our therapists, physicians and others as we create and carry out personalized care plans.  In addition to improving care, timely data helps us to keep insurers and stakeholders informed about our program. Our good results and favorable comparisons to other programs nationwide reassure you that your child is receiving excellent care.

How the Experts Measure Pediatric Inpatient Rehabilitation Care

The acute inpatient rehabilitation team at Phoenix Children’s uses these and other measures of progress:

1. Patient Satisfaction – This is based on post discharge patient/family survey results administered by the National Research Corporation (NRC).
2. WeeFIM (functional independence measure) – This is a pediatric version of a nationally recognized scoring system for acute inpatient rehabilitation programs. It shows how our patients are advancing in their abilities to function and live more independently.
3. Average Length of Stay – While each child has a length of stay that is unique to their condition and goals, the average length of stay in our program helps patients, families and referral providers know how long it generally takes to reach treatment goals. It also helps us monitor and improve our efficiency and quality of care. 
4. Average Age – We track average ages and break down numbers by age groups. This information helps us meet the needs of everyone we serve, at any age.
5. Average Number of Treatment Hours Per Day – This measures the average hours of total therapy received per day by the patients we serve.
6. Number of Patient Admissions – Tracking how many patients we admit quarterly and yearly helps with planning. It also shows the range and capabilities of our rehabilitation services.
7. Discharge to Home – This measures the percentage of our patients who have improved enough to go home instead of transferring to another facility, such as a longer-term residential home.
8. Unplanned Transfers – Tracking how many patients we serve that need to be transferred back to a higher level of medical care due to a decline/change in medical status. 
9. Percentage of Patients with Brain Injury – The inpatient rehabilitation program at Phoenix Children’s has a high percentage of patients with brain-related diagnoses. Although we treat a wide range of patients with other conditions, children with neurological injuries represent the largest group of patients we serve.

A Closer Look at Nine Standard Measures of Success

The following data shows how Phoenix Children’s measures and improves pediatric inpatient rehabilitation care and how we compare to similar programs nationwide. 

Phoenix Children's acute inpatient rehabilitation program helps kids improve function and feel better more quickly. When compared to national averages of similar inpatient rehabilitation programs, our kids spend less days in the inpatient program and can return to their homes and community more often.

1.  Patient Satisfaction 

This is based on post discharge patient/family survey results administered by the National Research Corporation (NRC). It rates our facility and other similar facilities in 18 separate areas. The most encompassing question asks if the patient/family would recommend the facility to others, which indicates their overall satisfaction of the facility.

When compared to other programs, Phoenix Children’s ranked above the national average in whether patients/families would recommend our facility to others for both Q1 2024 and calendar year 2023.

Phoenix Children’s is consistently ranked above the national average in this category and in the majority (14/18) of the categories in the survey. This indicates that our staff is providing excellent care, and we are making our patient’s stay as pleasant as possible.

TIMEFRAME	PHOENIX CHILDREN'S	NATIONAL COMPARISON
2023: January - December	90.0	89.8
2024 – Q1: January - March	100	90.2

 

2. Number of WeeFIM Points Gained

This outcomes measurement and management tool tracks specific measures of function and levels of independence in children. The FIM (functional independence measure) was developed by the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation. It’s used by most adult inpatient, outpatient and community-based rehabilitation programs. 

WeeFIM is a version of FIM scoring used to evaluate pediatric rehabilitation programs. Experts use WeeFIM scores to calculate how efficiently improvements occurred over the time kids spend in our program. WeeFIM scores points based on a child’s level of independence in functional skill categories, including:

• Cognition (thinking)
• Communication
• Control of bowel/bladder  
• Eating
• Mobility
• Self-care, also known as activities of daily living (ADLs)

WeeFIM results for Phoenix Children’s inpatient rehabilitation program show that:

• The overall number of points gained representing functional improvement on average per patient is higher than that of comparable programs around the country for calendar year 2023, and similar to the national average for the first quarter (January - March) of 2024.
• Our staff is providing the right amount of therapy, and our kids are working hard to improve their level of functional independence. They’re making great strides, so they can get better and go home sooner. 

TIMEFRAME	PHOENIX CHILDREN'S	NATIONAL COMPARISON
2023: January - December	23.4	21.9
2024 – Q1: January - March	21.0	22.2

 

3. Average Length of Stay

This measure tracks the average of how many days our patients stay in our program. It helps patients, families and referral providers with planning. However, each patient’s length of stay is based on individual condition, needs and goals. 

When compared to other programs, this average tells us how we are doing in terms of time spent gaining important improvements in function. It reflects our goal to be as efficient as possible while providing high-quality care.  

Length of stay results for inpatient rehabilitation program at Phoenix Children’s show that:

• Our program’s average length of stay is lower than the national comparisons for calendar year 2023 and the first quarter (January - March) of 2024.
• When using this number and the number of points gained on average per patient on the WeeFIM, we get a length of stay efficiency score that shows that our patients score more points per day than other comparable programs.

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TIMEFRAME	PHOENIX CHILDREN'S	NATIONAL COMPARISON
2023: January - December	14.8 DAYS	25.1 DAYS
2024 – Q1: January - March	13.8 DAYS	25 DAYS

 

4. Average Age

This is the average age for all the patients admitted to our program for calendar year 2023 and the first quarter (January - March) of 2024. This data helps to identify the ages of the patients we are caring for. We also break it down by age groups representing the patients we serve.  

Phoenix Children’s recent average-age inpatient rehabilitation numbers show that: 

• The average age of our patients is similar to other pediatric rehabilitation programs around the country. It also tells us if the population of patients we serve is changing so we can meet their needs.
• We serve a broad range of children. The average age of our patients and the data for specific age groups helps demonstrate Phoenix Children’s diversity of care and capabilities. We understand and serve the rehabilitative needs of all children and adolescents, regardless of age. 

TIMEFRAME	PHOENIX CHILDREN'S	NATIONAL COMPARISON
2023: January - December	9.3	11.2
2024 – Q1: January - March	12.1	11.1

Number of Patients by Age Group

AGES	2023: JANUARY - DECEMBER	2024 – Q1: JANUARY - MARCH
0-3	23	3
3-5	17	4
5-7	15	2
7-10	24	4
10+	64	31

 

5. Average Number of Treatment Hours Per Day 

This measures the average hours of total therapy received per day by the patients we serve. Based on your child’s needs, the patient will receive a personalized care plan with at least 16.5 hours per week of total therapy that may include any combination of physical, occupational, speech and feeding therapy.

TIMEFRAME	PHOENIX CHILDREN'S
2023: January - December	2.8
2024 – Q1: January - March	2.8

 

6. Number of Patient Admissions

This number shows how many patients we admit to our program yearly and quarterly. Tracking the number of patients admitted to a program gives patients and families, as well as our program leaders, an understanding of the size of our program. Seeing trends in admission volumes helps us to plan and develop programs to meet current needs. 

Phoenix Children’s recent inpatient rehabilitation patient admissions numbers show that: 

• We have a high volume, which reflects the breadth and scope of our pediatric inpatient rehabilitation program.
• Our patient admission numbers demonstrate that our team has strong experience in caring for patients with a wide variety of conditions.

	2023: JANUARY - DECEMBER	2024 – Q1: JANUARY - MARCH
Patient Admissions	144	44

 

7. Discharge to Home

This represents the percentage of our patients who have shown enough improvement to return to their home and community versus having to go to another institutional care facility to reside. 

Phoenix Children’s discharge-to-home inpatient rehabilitation numbers show that: 

• Our patients return to their homes more often than the national average for calendar year 2023 and the national average for the first quarter (January - March) of 2024.
• Our program has provided the support, training and resources our patients and families need so they are ready and able to provide care at home and get back to everyday life.

TIMEFRAME	PHOENIX CHILDREN'S	NATIONAL COMPARISON
2023: January - December	94.4%	89.9%
2024 – Q1: January - March	95.5%	82.7%

 

8. Unplanned Transfers

This tracks how many patients we serve that need to be transferred back to a higher level of medical care due to a decline/change in medical status.

Due to the complicated/involved medical issues that brought our patients to us for care, sometimes they experience setbacks while on the road to recovery. This may be due to surgical complications, unforeseen surgical needs or any downturn in a child’s medical condition requiring more extensive acute care.

TIMEFRAME	PHOENIX CHILDREN'S
2023: January - December	13
2024 – Q1: January - March	1

 

9. Percentage of Patients with Brain Injury

This number represents the percentage of all our admitted patients who have some type of brain-related condition that affects normal function.  

What the percentages tell us about rehabilitation care for brain-injury and other conditions:

• The inpatient rehabilitation program at Phoenix Children’s has a high percentage of patients with brain-related diagnoses. Although we treat a wide range of patients with other conditions, children with neurological injuries represent the largest group of patients we serve. This is because our teams have extensive pediatric-focused experience in neurology, complex rehabilitation and related specialties.
• Our exceptional expertise includes specialty care through Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) at Phoenix Children’s and our status as a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center. Phoenix Children’s trauma center is Arizona’s leading site for evaluating, stabilizing, treating and caring for severely injured children.  

TIMEFRAME	PHOENIX CHILDREN'S	NATIONAL COMPARISON
2023: January - December	75.6%	52.3%
2024 – Q1: January - March	59.1%	50%