Fig. 1

(a) The novel rehabilitation tiered service tool for rehabilitation patients distribution in previous study. (b) The novel clinical tool for distributing rehabilitation patients in China developed by our research group. * Note: The tool was developed by our research group. (a) Was the tool, (b) was the diagram and logic path of the tool. ^a The Longshi-scale was an evaluation method of self-care ability among disabled people, which was approved by the National Standards Commission of China in 2018 (GB/T37103-2018). ^b The patient should be referred if his/her functional status did not change for over one month. ^c The disease course could be different in different cities. ^d Multiple dysfunctions indicated patients who had conscious impairments, or in addition to motor impairment, they also had any one or more cognitive impairment, speech impairment, swallowing impairment, or cardio-pulmonary impairment. This tool classifies patients based on rehabilitation needs. The ‘only movement disorders’ category refers to patients with motor impairments but no cognitive or speech disorders. These cases are considered mild and suitable for primary healthcare, as referring them to higher-level institutions would unnecessarily use up medical resources.