Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSMR), a division of University at Buffalo Foundation Activities, Inc., is a not-for-profit corporation affiliated with the University at Buffalo. UDSMR offers a wide range of products and services that enable rehabilitation providers to document the severity of patient disability and the results of medical rehabilitation in a uniform way. UDSMR’s products address the needs of rehabilitation providers across the postacute care continuum.
For more than thirty years, UDSMR has been recognized as a leader in medical rehabilitation outcomes data. Today, UDSMR maintains the world’s largest government-independent repository of rehabilitation outcomes and IRF‑PAI data. The data is derived from more than 1,400 rehabilitation facilities worldwide, nearly 900 of which are inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) in the United States, that use UDSMR’s outcomes reporting, credentialing, auditing, training, and consulting services. Our organizational activities are guided by our founding mission: To enable healthcare providers and related entities to document and improve the outcomes, processes, and perceptions of care in uniform ways.
Developers of the FIM® instrument
Known for the development of the FIM® instrument, UDSMR has garnered a respected track record in data management, outcomes development, and academic analysis. For more than thirty years, UDSMR has been a national leader in medical rehabilitation outcomes and has provided aggregate summary information to many well-known and well-regarded organizations, including the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the American Hospital Association (AHA), and the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association (AMRPA).
Measures of effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, resource use, and safety are an integral part of the FIM® instrument. The FIM® instrument has a high overall internal consistency, can capture significant functional gains during rehabilitation, has high discriminative capabilities for rehabilitation patients, and is a good indicator of burden of care (i.e., the amount of time that a caregiver spends helping a person with a significant disability manage the tasks of personal care every day).
Since its inception in 1987, the FIM® instrument has been widely regarded and adopted by clinicians and researchers around the world for its brevity and reliability. A sizeable library of supporting research and study sustains the FIM® instrument’s reliability and validity. To date, more than 1,300 published articles support the FIM® instrument, and ongoing research and study continues.
The world's largest databases for medical rehabilitation outcomes
Internationally recognized as a leader in functional assessment and research, UDSMR maintains the world’s largest databases for medical rehabilitation outcomes. Currently, facilities in the United States, New Zealand, Norway, France, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Chile, Estonia, Finland, Uruguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, and Mexico subscribe to UDSMR, and the databases include over thirteen million patient assessments.
Reliable monitoring tools
Today, UDSMR provides outcomes management products and services based on CMS's payment and quality instruments and the principles of the FIM® instrument to providers across the postacute care continuum. UDSMR provides medical rehabilitation outcomes for acute medical rehabilitation, subacute programs, SNF programs, long-term care hospitals, pediatric inpatient hospitals, pediatric outpatient rehabilitation programs, and community-based outpatient therapy programs. When used in combination, these products provide health organizations with reliable tools for measuring and monitoring patients across the postacute care continuum.
All these products enable subscribers to document the severity of patient disability and the results of medical rehabilitation in a uniform way. Establishing a common language promotes communication about disability across disciplines and provides a basis for comparing rehabilitation outcomes. Data collected using the FIM® instrument is used in many ways:
- To evaluate the outcomes of rehabilitation programs
- To demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of care
- To assist in the clinical management of patients
- To conduct clinical research
