A Guide to Inpatient Cancer Rehabilitation: Focusing on Patient Selection and Evidence-Based Outcomes

Cancer inpatients commonly suffer from impairments that can prohibit safe discharge home from the acute care inpatient medical service and thus require transfer to a postacute inpatient rehabilitation facility. It has been demonstrated in multiple studies that cancer rehabilitation inpatients are able to make statistically significant functional improvements and at a similar pace as their noncancer counterparts. Medical fragility and reimbursement regulations are concerns that affect acceptance and triage of cancer rehabilitation inpatients. Strategies to rehabilitate these challenging patients include considering risk factors for medical complications, consult-based inpatient rehabilitation, and improved communication and coordination with oncology teams.