Physical Function and Hospital Readmissions

To the Editor In a recent article by Greysen et al,¹ the authors presented evidence that preadmission functional status is often unrecognized as a risk factor for hospital readmissions in a cohort of older Medicare beneficiaries. In the discussion, the authors note that well-designed interventions (citing the randomized clinical trial by Naylor et al²) can be effective in reducing readmissions when targeting older adults with known functional impairments. This observation highlights the important paradox that the intervention by Naylor and colleagues² showed minimal improvements in self-reported activity of daily living (ADL) performance yet had a significant effect in reducing hospital readmissions.