Activate Care’s Post

🚨 ICYMI: Check out our latest insights on improving healthcare for those experiencing homelessness. #HomelessnessIsSolvable American College of Healthcare Executives IHI Read more: https://bit.ly/3GKPwPW #HealthAndHomelessness #Healthcare #Homelessness

Housing is Healthcare Data sharing initiatives with measureable benchmarks and cross-sector partnerships, like Kaiser Permanente and Community Solutions, Inc., exemplify a progressive path forward in addressing the complexities of health disparities and homelessness. Without a place to call home, individuals are at a significantly higher risk of chronic illnesses, mental health disorders, and substance use challenges, thereby increasing their reliance on emergency services. This reality underscores the assertion that housing is not just a basic human need but a critical component of healthcare itself. Local and state governments should continue to invest in data driven housing solutions that embrace cross-sector partnerships. By fostering collaborations between healthcare providers, housing agencies, and community organizations, we can create a seamless network of support and begin to close the gaps within our current social infrastructure. #Healthcare #Homelessness #populationhealth #Housing

Pleased to have contributed to developing new homelessness and hospital discharge guidance with colleagues from Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Department of Health and Social Care. The guidance includes examples of best practice, including step by step guides and example pathways, which can be adapted to suit local practices, as well as assessing patients for safeguarding and care needs. The latter includes a reminder that a person’s ‘ordinary residence’ or ‘local connection’ is only relevant after the person has been assessed as eligible for accommodation and/or social care support. Unsafe discharge can trigger a safeguarding concern linked to neglect or self-neglect and acts of omission (failure to provide access to appropriate health, care and support). The Care Act 2014 also allows for the use of urgent provision, as there are powers to provide this under section 19(3) Care Act 2014. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/e2YYEz-t

News from Annals of Long-Term Care: "A common barrier for the medically frail and terminally ill populations is the inability to work due to their illness. Not being able to pay their rent and various bills can lead to an eviction, starting the cycle of homelessness," said Jillian Olmsted, executive director of The INN Between. Learn more about barriers that terminally ill and homeless patients face when trying to secure long-term care. #AnnalsofLongTermCare #ALTC #LTC #longtermcare #homesshealthcare #terminallyillcare 

Value-based health system transformation by definition must be deeply data-driven (ie. no data, what value?) It was great to join Avis Favaro on the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) podcast to discuss the complexities and nuances involved in population health and health systems administrative databases for building health systems that can meet the needs of unhoused communities - which involves some of the most medically and socially complex areas of healthcare. It’s also where equity, operational efficiency and economic performance strongly align so is critical for value-based health impact. As we do the necessary work advancing our individual datasets and capabilities, we need to ensure that we optimize interoperability to deliver safe care to patients, create comprehensive understandings and reflections of their health and care journeys, and enable the material conditions for the advanced predictive and prescriptive analytics, AI and digital twin models that are needed to sustain intelligent health systems designs.

Interesting article on homeless health! It is well documented that those who are classed as homeless face challenges accessing health care and huge inequalities. This leads to the worst health outcomes of any group and a 30 year shorter life expectancy. How can we remove barriers to access and create opportunities to improve the health of those experiencing homelessness? https://lnkd.in/eNU6Gj_t

#Homelessness presents a pressing public health emergency, carrying potentially fatal outcomes that are preventable. Keeping people in their homes, steering clear of eviction proceedings, shelters, and streets demands a unified effort from state, local, and federal policymakers, alongside the faith community, business sector, and philanthropy.   By advocating for stronger, more coordinated systems that provide stable housing, we have the power to make a difference and ensure everyone has a place to call home. #endhomelessness Learn more: https://bit.ly/4cFPBTL

Doing some research on recovery and homelessness, came across this guidance Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Health Care for Homeless People. Although it is from 1988, the same challenges for delivering healthcare to this population exist today. Especially when dealing with transitional or outpatient related care for addiction recovery. When I spoke to people at our center or through our outreach, these were common issues: 1. It takes drugs to get off drugs…it is the recommended way to start the recovery process even for alcohol or nicotine 2. If you get clean in jail or a facility and you don’t have access to those drugs, you are at a higher risk of relapse 3. It is hard to keep up with your medications on the street due to theft, lack of suitable storage or refrigeration, loss from camp sweeps What struck me are the solutions identified. In summary, communication, collaboration, targeted approach, and internal and external resources. Communication and collaboration are crucial to delivering value especially when no one organization is the one stop shop to solving addiction or homelessness. It takes many organizations working together. However, we are not always incentivized to do go outside of our financial scope or organizational boxes to reach out to others. At Be a Light Mission Service Center, Inc , we could not offer the help we provide to people in need without partnerships (collaboration) and lots of breaking information silos (communication). It is a really good read to understand the challenges and some tips for #addictionrecovery and #healthcare for people experiencing #homelessness Health Care Services for Homeless People. Available from: https://lnkd.in/eu4rZxMT

Community Solutions, Inc. just published Five Key Learnings from the State Public Health & Homelessness Playbook. I particularly appreciate the emphasis on data: "Without shared data, the health and homeless response systems cannot properly coordinate care for individuals and drive the systems-level changes that can improve housing and health outcomes at the population level. Data coordination and integration is the key to creating effective and responsive public policy solutions that impact population and community health, while providing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to drive future policy and programming." #crosssectorcollaboration, #housingishealth, #datasharingforbetterhealth, #endhomelessness https://lnkd.in/g3meXEeM

Homelessness poses a daunting national challenge and has worsened as a result of the pandemic, rising from roughly 582,000 people in 2022 to more than 653,000 people in 2023. People struggling with homelessness typically visit the emergency department (ED) as often as five times annually, sometimes even weekly, and annual ED costs can account for almost $10 billion to the U.S. healthcare system. Healthcare organizations bear the brunt of this problem, however, it is one that health systems cannot solve alone. To address the homelessness crisis, Community Solutions, founded in 2011 works across multiple programs by serving as a conduit to enable working relationships between the healthcare system and the homeless response system to create a coordinated effort. Read more about healthcare’s involvement with community partners and how this strategy is reducing homelessness and improving health outcomes. https://ow.ly/ovtH50RxZ9z #Homelessness #HealthcarePartnerships #CommunityPartners #CommunitySolutions #HealthcareSystem