European initiative for the application of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: development of Clinical Assessment Schedules for specified rehabilitation services.

BACKGROUND: Clinical assessment schedule (CLAS) is a core part of the ICF-based implementation of functioning reporting across health conditions and along the continuum of care.

AIM: The Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Section and Board of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS PRM) workshop held in January 2016 aimed to develop and specify a CLAS within the context of rehabilitation services.

SETTING: UEMS PRM Workshop in Nottwil, Switzerland, January 2016.

POPULATION: PRM physicians representatives from 12 European countries, as well as Israel and Japan, mostly delegates of UEMS PRM Section and Board, and experts with other rehabilitation professional backgrounds.

METHODS: Participants were divided into 6 working groups and asked to specify what functioning aspects would be essential to document using the available ICF sets for the identified rehabilitation services contained in the newly developed service classification (ICSO-R): acute, post-acute and long-term rehabilitation services.

RESULTS: The 7 ICF Generic and 23 Rehabilitation Set categories were confirmed as well as specific health condition categories for acute rehabilitation services (mobile team), for postacute rehabilitation services (general outpatient rehabilitation, musculoskeletal and neurological rehabilitation, as well as specialized SCI rehabilitation), and for long-term rehabilitation services (day clinic and rehabilitation provided in the community). While general principles of the CLAS were defined, the need to align the CLAS for a specific service, as well as across services along the continuum of care was highlighted. All groups deliberated on this topic; however, no conclusive statement was presented yet.

CONCLUSIONS: The groups recognized a need for a systematic effort to identify data collection tools currently used.

CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: CLASs will serve in the future to ensure that functioning information is systematically and consistently collected across services, and thus respond also to various global reports and initiatives which stress the need for improving data collection on people's functioning.