Housing the Homeless After Hospitalization Cuts Readmissions

[Sasha]

I think this is really great, they are working to address the cause of illness (homelessness) not just the illness itself. I have often wondered about the logic of sending someone back to the same unhealthy situation that caused the complaint in the first place.

Housing the Homeless After Hospitalization Cuts Readmissions

Full Article Here: http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/14057

WHEELING, W.Va., May 5 -- Homeless hospital patients who were provided with housing and other services after discharge were less likely to be readmitted or to require emergency treatment, a randomized trial showed.

The intervention was associated with 29% fewer hospitalizations (95% CI 10% to 44%) and 24% fewer ER visits (95% CI 3% to 40%) compared with usual discharge planning for homeless patients, after adjusting for confounding factors, reported Laura S. Sadowski, M.D., M.P.H., of Stroger Hospital of Cook County in Chicago, and colleagues.

"These results provide a rationale and a blueprint for programs that address the needs of this vulnerable population," the researchers wrote in the May 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

People complain all the time about people who really don't need to go to the ER calling 911 or showing up in triage, but they do nothing to try and address the problem. People are hungry, people are cold, people are sick with no money and no where else to go for a bed and a meal except possibly jail. I am delighted to read about homeless people being provided with resources after discharge. Incredibly delighted.