• Posted June 11, 2026

Few Stroke, Brain Injury Survivors Get Top-Quality Hospital Rehab

Few people who’ve suffered a stroke or brain injury are being offered top-quality, hospital-based rehab, a new study says.

Only about 22% of patients who’ve suffered a stroke, brain injury or spinal cord injury are sent to inpatient rehabilitation following their hospitalization, researchers reported June 10 in the journal Neurology Open Access.

That includes fewer than 1 in 4 stroke patients and 1 in 7 patients with a brain injury, researchers said.

“Inpatient rehabilitation facilities provide more intensive rehabilitation care, usually more than three hours per day, than skilled nursing facilities,” said senior researcher Dr. Farhaan Vahidy, associate vice president of research at Memorial Hermann in Houston.

“Receiving intensive rehabilitation after stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury can improve a person’s recovery, yet access to inpatient rehabilitation care remains inconsistent and may not be equitable,” he said in a news release.

For the new study, researchers reviewed health records from 2016 to 2019 in five states — Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New York and Washington.

The team identified nearly 445,000 adults hospitalized for stroke, brain injury or spinal cord injury. Of the patients, 75% had a stroke, 24% had brain injury and 1% had a spinal cord injury.

Results showed that 22% were sent to inpatient rehab following their initial hospitalization, 26% went to a skilled nursing facility and 54% were sent home.

Overall, only 22% of those with stroke and 14% of those with brain injury went to inpatient rehab, compared to 44% of those with a spinal cord injury.

Researchers also found some disparities among the groups offered inpatient rehab.

Older people around 75 were 4% more likely to go to inpatient rehab than home compared to those with an average age of 63, researchers found.

Women had 19% higher odds of inpatient rehab than men, and Black people had 29% higher odds than white people, researchers found.

However, Black people had 10% lower odds of being sent to inpatient rehab versus a nursing facility when excluding everyone who was sent home, the study said.

Results also showed that having private insurance versus Medicare meant 35% lower odds of inpatient rehab, and living in a high-income ZIP code meant 12% lower odds than living in a lower-income area.

“Ensuring equitable access to intensive inpatient rehabilitation can help improve long-term outcomes for people with these conditions,” Vahidy said. “Future studies should further examine differences in care and develop interventions to reduce disparities.”

More information

The University of Rochester Medicine has more on inpatient rehabilitation.

SOURCES: American Academy of Neurology, news release, June 10, 2026; Neurology Open Access, June 2026