Providing the ‘Gold Standard’ Nationwide

Dr. Carl Granger is the founder and executive director of Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSMR).

The FIM® instrument is widely regarded as the “gold standard” for measuring a patient’s functional status through the continuum of care. In fact, the US Department of Health and Human Services adopted it as an integral part of Medicare’s prospective payment system for inpatient rehabilitation facilities.

Grant Funding Helped Lead to a Medical Breakthrough

The development of the FIM instrument was spearheaded by Dr. Carl Granger, the founder and executive director of Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSMR), through a small grant. Since the program’s inception, an affiliate of the UB Foundation has continued to support UDSMR by providing the corporate structure through which the intellectual property is controlled, assisting with business transactions, and providing advice and guidance regarding their operations.

A Bold Statement

Thanks to the entrepreneurial success of the late Dr. Granger, the university has received $10 million for endowments related to its Boldly Buffalo campaign. These funds will be used to help realize UB’s mission and values of equity, diversity and inclusion through the recruitment, retention and support of faculty and student scholars. Specifically, the endowments will fund university-wide diversity initiatives and student scholarships, and will establish new faculty positions.

Serving Healthcare Facilities Worldwide

“UDSMR provides the tools that inpatient rehabilitation facilities need to improve their quality of care, their compliance with federal regulations, and their financial viability in the increasingly competitive and changing health care arena,” noted Dr. Granger, who was also a longtime research professor and former chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University at Buffalo. UDSMR products are widely used for CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) accreditation, and at times are also a part of The Joint Commission accreditation process.

Better Care, Better Outcomes

The success of the FIM instrument is due in part to its ability to reliably validate functional status. This quantification of functional status has become a key factor in post-acute care quality improvement, resource allocation and outcomes measurement throughout the rehabilitation industry. Through the years, UDSMR has continued to grow and evolve to meet the needs of medical rehabilitation providers in the United States and around the globe.

The World’s Largest Database for Medical Rehabilitation Outcomes

One of the company’s key resources is an extensive database of patient demographics and outcomes — the world’s largest database for medical rehabilitation outcomes, representing more than 75% of the inpatient rehabilitation facilities in the United States. This database — combined with the company’s vast experience in regulation, compliance and operational best practices — positions them to provide evidence-based solutions that support ongoing efforts to improve quality of care and payment systems within Medicare.

Focused on the Future

UDSMR is actively involved in advocacy efforts to preserve the proven quality and outcomes that inpatient rehabilitation facilities have consistently demonstrated, even as the health care system evolves. Working together, UDSMR and rehabilitation facilities can continue to provide intensive, focused, patient-centered medical rehabilitation, resulting in the best long-term patient outcomes in the post-acute care industry.