Understanding Access to Rehabilitation for Stroke Survivors: Talya Fleming, MD

WATCH TIME: 5 minutes

"Every stroke is different… every course of rehabilitation and recovery for each person is going to be different."

The American Association of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AAPM&R), founded in 1939, has spent more than eight decades advancing and advocating for the field physiatry. Aligned with its mission to maximize function and enhance quality of life for patients with disabling conditions, the organization continues to support physiatrists in their work restoring mobility, independence, and overall well-being for patients following adverse health events.

Physiatrists, who specialize in physical medicine & rehabilitation (PM&R), look to restore functional ability and quality of life to those who are impaired or disabled from a previous health event. AAPM&R have hosted assemblies for 67 consecutive years and grown to be the largest annual professional conference of physicians and rehabilitation clinicians in the United States.

The 2025 AAPM&R Annual Assembly held October 22-25, in Salt Lake City, Utah, covered a variety of topics in the PM&R field including technology and the incorporation of AI, hands on training, long COVID, and more. During the assembly, Talya Fleming, MD, Medical director of the stroke recovery program at JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute at Hackensack Meridian Health in Edison, New Jersey, gave a presentation regarding rehabilitation care for stroke survivors.

Titled Access to Rehabilitation Care for Stroke Survivors: Old Problems and New Solutions, the presentation reviewed published and newly available data that highlighted problems of access to rehabilitation care for stroke survivors along with exploring disparities of care affecting subgroups of stroke survivors. The presentation also analyzed structural deficits that created barriers for stroke rehabilitation and provided innovative approaches for delivering rehab within the home and community in hopes of mitigating some these barriers of care.

Following the meeting, Fleming sat down with NeurologyLive® for an exclusive interview regarding her presentation and the broader landscape of stroke rehabilitation care. During the interview, Fleming emphasized the ongoing challenges in rehabilitation care, namely access to care and design of care systems, as well as how emerging technologies and care logistics are reshaping the field.