Parma Hospital’s inpatient rehabilitation unit
awarded three-year CARF accreditation

Special stroke designation awarded

CARF International announced that the Acute Rehabilitation Center at Parma Community General Hospital has been reaccredited for a period of three years for its adult hospital-based rehabilitation program. In addition, CARF gave special recognition to Parma Hospital’s program for stroke patients, which involves 14 additional standards in which the unit is rated.

The Acute Rehabilitation Center at Parma Hospital is an inpatient unit that provides comprehensive physical and cognitive rehabilitation. Services are provided for patients who have had joint replacements or other orthopedic surgeries, stroke and brain injury patients, amputees and individuals who have had spinal cord injury or other multiple traumas. The unit also provides rehabilitation to those with neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson’s disease.

This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows the organization’s substantial conformance to the CARF standards. An organization receiving a three‐year accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an onsite visit that its programs and services are measurable, accountable and of the highest quality. Among the Acute Rehabilitation Center’s strengths, CARF cited:

·    Outcomes higher than national averages for functional improvement measures of its patients.

·    A culture of caring.

·    Tenured, qualified staff.

·    Competent, committed leadership.

The treatment team, led by a physiatrist, includes nurses, social workers, a dietitian, a pharmacist, a psychologist/neuropsychologist and occupational, recreational, physical and speech therapists. Family members are an important part of treatment as the team works to return patients to functional independence.

“Our interdisciplinary approach in managing our patients’ care enables us to excel beyond both regional and national averages in the level of functionality our patients have attained by the time they are discharged,” says Cynthia Taylor, DO, medical director of the Acute Rehabilitation Unit. “We are focused on providing excellent, personalized care.”

CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.

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