Being homeless directly impacts an individual’s ability to prevent or avoid certain health problems, and on the ability to attend to and manage one’s health. It is therefore not surprising that homeless individuals tend to require high levels of health services, or that, lacking healthcare and income resources, they often obtain these services through hospital emergency departments. An increasingly managed care environment in hospitals, however, is resulting in shorter hospital stays and more procedures provided on an outpatient basis. The impact on homeless individuals is especially harsh, because they are frequently discharged from the hospital with prescriptions for medication they cannot afford to have filled, and/or with instructions for follow-up care they are unable to heed, such as a safe bed to rest in and nutritious food. One response to this gap in health care between hospitals and the streets has been the development of medical respite
services for homeless persons.
In May 2000, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded ten Health Care for the Homeless grantees, for up to five years, to enhance their medical respite services for homeless persons. HRSA also supported a prospective evaluation to 1) document the differing models of respite care delivery being used, and 2) assess the effect of those respite services on the health of homeless persons. This report summarizes results from this multi-method evaluation.
