Flow diagram of hospitals and patients.

<p>The LTAC-level analysis (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0139742#pone.0139742.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>) contains the 379 LTACs in the continental United States with at least 1 Medicare admission. The patient level analyses examining patient characteristics between LTAC types (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0139742#pone.0139742.t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>) also contains patients in these 379 LTACs. The outcomes analysis (Tables <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0139742#pone.0139742.t003" target="_blank">3</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0139742#pone.0139742.t004" target="_blank">4</a>) contains the 289 LTACs in the final analysis and 10,118 patients in the matched sample. LTAC = long-term acute care hospital; DRG = diagnosis related group; HCRIS = Healthcare Cost Reporting Information System.