Prevention Matters

A Chicago project for homeless people shows strong results from a program that uses social workers find them housing and secure medical services, Judith Graham writes in Triage.

Chicago researchers reported in JAMA that an 18-month study showed that homeless people who got assistance had 24 percent fewer emergency department visits and 29 percent fewer hospitalizations than homeless people who received “usual care”—discharge to a homeless shelter or the city’s only respite center for the homeless.

"Put another way, the study shows that for every 100 homeless adults offered assistance, expected benefits include 49 fewer hospitalizations, 270 fewer hospital days and 116 fewer emergency department visits," Graham writes.