Folks who are experiencing homelessness often use expensive acute health services like emergency department visits at a high rate but often experience poor outcomes. They may end up back on the streets and then cycle back to care when medical conditions become acute again. Sometimes, because they have no place to go, their hospital stays are longer than they would otherwise be.
A Utah Valley University study that focused on care provided by The INN Between in Salt Lake City suggests that medical respite for those experiencing homelessness saves money, improves outcomes and takes some pressure off often-stressed healthcare systems.
Amanda Weller, who has a master of social work degree, and Angelea Panos, an assistant professor of social work, looked at outcomes for patients who were referred to The INN Between by the University of Utah Hospital and Huntsman Care Institute for medical respite and got in, compared to those for whom there was no room at the time. Their needs were roughly comparable, but the difference was whether they could enter the medical respite program.