Newsweek has named Keck Hospital of USC’s Acute Rehabilitation Unit (ARU) one of the top physical rehabilitation centers in California. At No. 13 in the rankings for California, Keck Hospital reached the top 10% for inpatient rehabilitative care in the state.

Ramzi Ben-Youssef, MD, medical director of the ARU (Photo/Ricardo Carrasco)

In her announcement, Newsweek’s editor in chief Nancy Cooper stated, “Every year, millions of Americans over the age of 18 will sustain musculoskeletal injuries that last longer than three months. Physical therapy can significantly affect the time and quality of recovery.”

Keck Medicine has long been committed to providing the best possible rehabilitation care so that inpatients can make greater strides toward recovered independence and improved quality of life. The ARU is a comprehensive program with an interdisciplinary team approach, where experts strive to increase patient functions including mobility, daily activities, cognition, communication, strength and overall independence. The discharge to community rate of 89.2% currently surpasses the national average of 81.8%.

“It makes us proud to see that this team of multidisciplinary rehabilitation specialists has risen quickly and confidently in less than nine years to the top 10% of the best inpatient physical rehabilitation centers in California,” said Ramzi Ben-Youssef, MD, medical director of the ARU.

The unit helps patients recovering from a wide range of conditions and procedures, including but not limited to: stroke, plus other brain injuries and neurologic disorders; transplant surgeries; cardiac disorders and surgeries; amputations; orthopedic injuries including joint replacement procedures; and spinal cord injury.

Ben-Youssef, who is also a clinical associate professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, additionally emphasized the importance of the complex cases the ARU sees as well as its unique offerings, such as rehabilitation for left ventricular assistive device patients.

Newsweek partnered with Statista, a third-party analytical group, in their data collection. In order to qualify, the facilities needed to center care on inpatients, be Medicare- and/or Medicaid-recognized facilities and to have remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Subfactors in the data analysis included recommendation and reputation scores, key performance indicator (KPI) data from CMS, and accreditations from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities and from Model System Awards, which is funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research.

— Kate Faye