Dan Treglia is a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.
Eileen L. Johns is director of policy and research at the New York City Center for Innovation through Data Intelligence.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2019 Sep;38(9):1458-1467. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05308.
People who are homeless use more hospital-based care than average, yet little is known about how hospital and shelter use are interrelated. We examined the timing of emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations relative to entry into and exit from New York City homeless shelters, using an analysis of linked health care and shelter administrative databases. In the year before shelter entry and the year following shelter exit, 39.3 percent and 43.3 percent, respectively, of first-time adult shelter users had an ED visit or hospitalization. Hospital visits-particularly ED visits-began to increase several months before shelter entry and declined over several months after shelter exit, with spikes in ED visits and hospitalizations in the days immediately before shelter entry and following shelter exit. We recommend cross-system collaborations to better understand and address the co-occurring health and housing needs of vulnerable populations.
无家可归者比一般人更多地使用基于医院的护理，但人们对医院和收容所的使用如何相互关联知之甚少。我们使用链接的医疗保健和收容所管理数据库，检查了急诊室 (ED) 就诊和住院与进入和离开纽约市收容所的时间关系。在进入收容所前一年和离开收容所后一年，分别有 39.3%和 43.3%的首次成年收容所使用者进行了 ED 就诊或住院治疗。住院治疗——特别是 ED 就诊——在进入收容所前几个月开始增加，并在离开收容所后几个月内下降，在进入收容所前几天和离开收容所后几天 ED 就诊和住院治疗出现高峰。我们建议进行跨系统合作，以更好地了解和满足弱势人群的健康和住房需求。
