How Digital Tools Improve Stroke Recovery Outcomes and Reduce Provider Burnout
Stroke remains a major public health challenge worldwide. According to the 2019 Global Burden of Disease report, stroke is the third-leading cause of death and disability combined, with over 12 million cases reported annually.1,2
Disabilities resulting from stroke lead to high medical costs, productivity losses, and long-term care needs, affecting individuals, their families, and society at large.3 However, overcoming disabilities after a stroke is possible.
The road to recovery begins with rehabilitation. Receiving rehabilitation care after a stroke is crucial to enhancing neurological and physical recovery, regaining independence, and improving quality of life.4 However, poststroke rehabilitation is complex, and obtaining comprehensive rehabilitation support is still a major challenge in stroke recovery.3
Poststroke rehabilitation requires constant monitoring and reevaluation from acute management in the critical early days following stroke to long-term recovery.3 Each rehabilitation phase presents its own challenges and can take place in different settings: (1) the acute phase, right after the individual is stabilized, is provided at the hospital; (2) the subacute phase, from one week up to 3 to 6 months after the stroke, can be conducted at inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities, long-term acute care hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient rehabilitation programs, or at home; and (3) the chronic phase, from 6 months after the stroke to an indefinite duration, takes place generally at outpatient settings or home.3,5
Because each stroke is unique and results in a distinct range of physical and cognitive impairments, a multidisciplinary approach to rehabilitation is critical. This type of approach, along with changes of locations in each phase, presents unique challenges for patients, healthcare providers, and payers. Fortunately, digital rehabilitation tools have the potential to alleviate various of these problems.
This article explores common challenges that healthcare providers and health insurance administrators face in providing effective poststroke rehabilitation and how digital rehabilitation tools, particularly gaming technology, offer cost-effective solutions.
Why Stroke Rehabilitation Is Overwhelming Therapists and Clinics
Stroke cases continue to increase, overwhelming healthcare systems.1 Some of the main problems that healthcare providers (HCPs) and clinics face when treating people after a stroke include:
Time and Caseload Pressures
The number of individuals surviving stroke due to medical advances is growing, which leads to high patient volume, limited time for individualized care, and resource constraints.3 Some of the factors contributing to this problem include:
- Disabilities resulting from stroke require multidisciplinary and tailored approaches, which require extensive team coordination, increasing the workload of HCPs.3
- The different demands among acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and outpatient and home settings require extensive coordination, overwhelming the workload of HCPs and clinic administrators.3
- New treatments and technologies, such as neurostimulation and telemedicine, require additional learning demands for the already over-scheduled HCPs.6
The Adherence Problem
After discharge, more than 53% of individuals don’t continue with their rehabilitation, delaying recovery.7,8 Some of the factors contributing to low adherence include:
- Most people experience psychological distress after a stroke. Depression and anxiety are key factors in rehabilitation discontinuation.7
- Individuals with comorbidities, older adults, people with limited education, and minimal social support are more likely to discontinue rehabilitation earlier than their peers.7
- Limited insurance coverage or financial resources.3
- Lack of transportation and caregivers’ availability disrupts continuity of care and affects outcomes.3
- Geographical disparities, especially in rural or remote areas, often limit access to specialized rehabilitation centers and skilled healthcare professionals.3
- Limited supervision and support when individuals transition from structured clinical environments to home settings.7
Key Challenges Stroke Rehab Poses for Insurance Payers
Rehabilitation after stroke is a long-term commitment that poses several challenges to insurance payers.
High Costs of Readmissions and Prolonged Care
In the United States alone, stroke-related costs reached $56.2 billion between 2019 and 2020,9 with inpatient care being particularly costly.10
Insurance payers are responsible for covering a range of complex therapies (i.e., physical, occupational, speech, and psychological) as well as extended inpatient stays and continued outpatient care, which increase administration costs.10 Some of the factors contributing to this problem include:
- Non-adherence to rehabilitation can lead to complications, readmissions, and longer recovery timelines, leading to increasing costs.10
- Many insurance plans limit the scope or duration of rehabilitation coverage, often falling short of evidence-based recommendations. This can lead to out-of-pocket costs or early coverage termination, contributing to underinsurance and care inequities.11
The Shift Toward Value-Based Care
Value-based stroke care focuses on evaluating rehabilitation outcomes, such as health markers and functional ability, rather than by the number of therapy sessions or procedures performed.12 Although this approach is beneficial, it poses some constraints to payers:
- Value-based care aims to reduce overall healthcare costs while maximizing the benefits to patients; however, there is a need for tools that can track progress and inform care decisions as they happen.12
Lack of Visibility and Data on At-Home Rehab
Progress report in clinical settings is standardized. However, at home, monitoring and reporting progress can be challenging. Some factors that contribute to this problem include:
- Progress during the chronic phase is more gradual and not easy to measure. 13
- Once the individual transitions into a home rehabilitation setting, it is difficult for payers to evaluate the rehabilitation effectiveness.12
- Long-term tracking and patient-reported outcomes are necessary to record improvement and recovery at home.12
How Digital Rehab Tools Can Solve Stroke Recovery Challenges
Digital tools are transforming post-stroke rehabilitation—particularly in outpatient and home settings—by addressing many of the challenges faced by healthcare providers, clinics, and payers.
Some of the innovations at the forefront of rehab transformation are:
Gamified technology
- Offers a personalized approach to the specific impairments and goals of the individual, without imposing additional time and resource constraints.3
- Supports the multidisciplinary approach of poststroke rehabilitation. Particularly, virtual reality (VR) games offer multisensory stimulation, which creates new neural pathways, improving coordination (i.e., hand-eye, hands-feet), balance, limb mobility, and muscle function, and restoring balance and function between both sides of the body.14,15
- Requires minimal training and can be easily adapted to inpatient, outpatient, and home settings, lightening the learning demands for HCPs, and demanding minimal administrative coordination.
- Improves adherence by being immersive and interactive; they lead to more repetition of rehabilitation exercises, higher levels of encouragement, and overall higher engagement than during traditional rehabilitation sessions.14–16
AI Pose-Tracking
- Delivers real-time feedback by using a device’s built-in camera (such as a smartphone or laptop) to capture and analyze body movements without markers or sensors. This technology enables remote monitoring by physical therapists, helping patients perform the exercises correctly.17
Wearables / Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs)
- Track movement, angle, and orientation in 3D. These small wearable sensors can accurately capture data like limb motion or balance, providing personalized rehabilitation feedback18
Tele-PT Sessions
- Eliminate travel and increase access, especially for those with mobility or geographic barriers. These live video PT appointments allow therapists to provide guidance, make adjustments, and offer support in the patient’s own space.19
Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) Dashboards
- Display patients’ rehab data collected remotely. Data include adherence, pain levels, or mobility metrics. Clinicians can use this to track progress over time, personalize treatment plans, and intervene when needed.20
EHR Plug-Ins
- Integrate rehabilitation data directly into a clinic or hospital’s electronic health record system. These software add-ons streamline documentation, reduce manual entry, ensure all relevant data is centralized, and support compliance during audits.21
How Rehab RangerTM Supports Providers and Improves Care
Rehab RangerTM AI-driven mobile application, wearable sensors, and gamification are transforming physical therapy for stroke patients by making it more accessible, engaging, and effective.
- Our devices can be easily incorporated into outpatient and home settings, reducing transportation and related costs for individuals and alleviating caregivers’ workload.
- Our technology reduces the HCPs’ workload, frees up clinic time while maintaining care quality, and requires less administration oversight, thereby reducing administration costs.
- Our gamified rehabilitation improves individuals’ adherence, reduces the number of complications and readmissions, potentially shortening recovery times and, therefore, reducing costs even further.
- Our remote approach reduces strain on therapists and facilities.
- Our EHR Plug-Ins support insurance documentation and medical necessity decisions, helping minimize administrative burden and delays.
- Our RTM dashboards track patients’ progress and offer feedback in real-time, optimizing treatment and reducing the overall healthcare costs.
Learn more about how Rehab Ranger™ is working to boost patient engagement, free up clinical resources, and deliver measurable returns for payers and providers alike. Ready to cut documentation time in half and double adherence? → Book a 15-minute demo.
By Leticia Torres
September 19, 2025
References
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