Assisted Ambulation to Improve Health Outcomes for Older Medical Inpatients

Every patient will have an SPPB score on admission to the study. A blinded assessor will measure the SPPB again at discharge or on day 10 if the patient is still hospitalized. The primary outcome is change from admission to discharge. Investigators will also compare the percentage of patients who reach the minimal clinically important difference of 1 point.

SPPB minimum value= 0 SPPB maximum value= 12 (higher score indicates a better outcome). If no blinded team member is available, the evaluation may be carried out by any unblinded team member. The blinding status of the evaluator will be noted in REDCap.

Patients will complete the PROMIS physical function mobility bank via REDCap at 30 days post enrollment. PROMIS allows use of computer-adapted testing to measure patient-reported outcomes. The mobility question bank focuses on activities of physical mobility such as getting out of bed or a chair to walking up stairs. PROMIS measures were developed and validated with state-of-the-science methods supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. PROMIS was designed to enhance communication between clinicians and patients in diverse research and clinical settings and to be relevant across all conditions for the assessment of symptoms and functions.

PROMIS minimum value= 0 PROMISE maximum value= 100 (higher score indicates a better outcome)

Subjects will complete the AM-PAC at 30 days post enrollment and the score will be transformed using the t-scale. In addition to comparing AM-PAC scores at 30 days, the investigator will also compare change in t-score from admission. The AM-PAC 6-clicks (assessed in the hospital) and the AM-PAC outpatient SF are normed to the same t-scale, allowing for conversion from the one to the other. The 6-clicks is scored by a clinical proxy, while the SF AM-PAC is self-reported, allowing for initial assessment by the MT and 30-day self-report by the patient. Previous studies have demonstrated adequate validity of mobility assessment via the AM-PAC using clinical or family proxies. To improve interpretability, investigators will compare the percentage of patients who reach the minimal clinically important difference of 3 points on the t-scale.

AM-PAC minimum value= 29.41 AM-PAC maximum value= 80.30 (higher score indicates a better outcome)

Composite outcome of venous thromboembolism, fall with injury, pressure ulcers or hospital-acquired pneumonia. Hospital-acquired complications will be identified from the electronic health record and from the falls reporting system. All falls will be examined, whether occurring during assisted ambulation or otherwise. Only falls with injury will be included in the hospital-acquired complications measure. Outcomes will be adjudicated by blinded reviewers. While investigators are primarily interested in the composite measure, investigators will also examine the individual components separately.

All cause readmission within 30 days of discharge from the index hospitalization.

Activities of daily living as measured by the Katz and Lawton scales.

Katz minimum value= 0 Katz maximum value= 6 (higher score indicates a better outcome) Lawton minimum value= 0 Lawton maximum value= 8 (higher score indicates a better outcome)

Frailty as measured by the Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation,Illness, and Loss of weight (FRAIL) scale.

FRAIL minimum value= 0 FRAIL maximum value= 5 (higher score indicates a worse outcome)

Investigators will estimate total cost of the episode of care including the index admission (from hospital cost accounting systems), the personnel costs for the MTs (using hourly wages plus benefits), and all non-medication costs for the 30 days post-enrollment (from Medicare claims).

Based on the discharge disposition in the medical record, investigators will identify whether the patient was discharged to home.

Length of stay will be calculated as whole days from the time of admission to the time of discharge.

Patient's vital status will be ascertained from the EHR, Medicare claims or from follow-up phone calls.

Investigators will estimate total cost of the episode of care including the index admission (from hospital cost accounting systems), the personnel costs for the MTs (using hourly wages plus benefits), and all non-medication costs for the 6 months post-enrollment (from Medicare claims).

Whether the patient has fallen, whether it was multiple times and whether an injury occurred will be assessed via telephone

Five question sleep survey which measures overall quality of sleep. Patients in both study arms will complete the questionnaire each morning regarding the previous night's sleep.