# Understanding This Resolution About Hospital Mobility for Older Adults

This resolution is essentially Congress saying to Medicare and Medicaid officials: "We think you should create a way to measure and encourage hospitals to keep older patients moving while they're hospitalized." Right now, there's no standard system for tracking how much patients walk or move around during their hospital stays, and hospitals don't have clear incentives to prioritize mobility.

The problem the resolution identifies is pretty serious. When older adults are hospitalized, they spend most of their time in bed—less than 43 minutes a day walking, even if they could walk when they arrived. This lack of movement causes real damage. Patients lose muscle strength, develop weakness that can last for months or years, and often leave the hospital less able to care for themselves than when they arrived. In fact, more than one-third of people over 70 who are hospitalized develop new disabilities they didn't have before, and a year later, most still haven't fully recovered. These patients are also three times more likely to end up in nursing homes instead of going home.

The resolution points out that hospitals actually have a backwards incentive right now. Because hospitals get penalized when patients fall, they sometimes discourage movement to prevent accidents—even though staying active is what actually keeps older patients healthy and independent. The resolution asks Medicare and Medicaid to work with hospitals and doctors to develop a standardized way to measure mobility and create new quality measures that reward hospitals for keeping patients active. This would mean hospitals would be evaluated and potentially rewarded for getting older patients up and moving, which research shows reduces hospital stays, cuts costs by about 30 percent, and helps patients go home instead of to nursing facilities.

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services developing a mobility metric to guide providers in preventing mobility loss among hospitalized older adults.

Houchin, Erin

 <p>This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services should develop quality measures to prevent mobility loss among hospitalized patients.</p>