of professionals with special training in geriatrics and gerontology. Programs aimed at hospitalized patients have been hampered by declines in the length of hospital stays, and programs that have featured extended postacute assessment and rehabilitation after acute hospitalization have been limited by difficulties with reimbursement. They point out that some of the most successful programs have assumed control over patient care, but that severing a patient's tie to a primary care physician is not always desired by primary care physicians, patients, or family members. Because of this, programs have concentrated on providing consultative support to primary care physicians and as a result have suffered from varying degrees of noncompliance with the recommendations arising from the geriatric assessment process.
For these reasons, the authors focused on a targeted group of frail elderly patients discharged from an acute care hospital. Intervention consisted of a predischarge assessment and a postdischarge component that was completed at the patient's home within one to three days of discharge. Further follow-ups were carried out at 30 and 60 days postdischarge. To increase the primary care
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