May

13

News: Housing and care coordination reduce hospitalizations

By Case Management Weekly

Offering case management intervention and housing to homeless patients reduced hospitalizations by 29% and ED visits by 24%, according to a May 6 study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Providing care to the homeless has always been a challenge for providers. An estimated 3.5 million Americans likely to experience homelessness during some or all of 2009. This study sought to investigate care coordination solutions for homeless adults with chronic illnesses such as HIV, diabetes, and hypertension.

For the study, patients were provided with hospital social workers for discharge planning, and were placed in transitional housing immediately after a hospital stay. The patients were later transferred to long-term housing.

The study revealed fewer hospitalizations and ED visits for homeless patients who received these case management services than for those who did not receive similar services.

Source: The Journal of the American Medical Association