Homelessness, hospitals and mental health: Study shows impacts and costs

A new study that harnesses a new form of data on hospital patients’ housing status reveals vast differences in diagnoses between patients with and without housing issues who are admitted to hospitals. This includes a sharp divide in care for mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental conditions.

Homeless people are more likely to be put on ventilators for respiratory infections than non-homeless

Researchers from UCLA, Harvard Medical School and the University of Tokyo found that during a recent six-year period, homeless people in New York state were more likely to hospitalized and treated with mechanical ventilators for respiratory infections than people who are not homeless. These findings have implications for the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Data-Driven Approach for Communities At Risk for Severe COVID-19 Outcomes

A Maryland Taskforce on Vulnerable Populations for COVID-19 this week began implementing a data-driven approach to identifying communities and individuals at highest risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19. They are using this data and mapping to guide the deployment of outreach and resources to vulnerable populations including homeless, elderly living in congregate dwellings and those with limited healthcare access.
This is a unique approach to battling COVID-19 that could be adopted nationally.

FAU Nurses Provide PPE for Homeless, Low Income Individuals During Pandemic

A team of FAU nurses is addressing the dire needs of a low income neighborhood in West Palm Beach by spearheading programs to provide lifesaving PPE such as face masks for those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. People living in poverty as well as homeless individuals and those struggling with social determinants of health are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and dying from it.

Homeless people receive less treatment in hospitals for heart attacks, have higher readmission rates

Homelessness has become a social crisis and public health problem around the world, affecting people of all ages. Most homeless people are at a disadvantage with few resources, and may or may not have adequate health insurance. Mental illness and substance abuse are common issues in the homeless community. People living on the streets have a high likelihood of developing heart disease. Yet they have little ability to take care of their health.

Faculty Q&A: H. Luke Shaefer on how the coronavirus outbreak highlights inequities in health care, employment systems

FACULTY Q&ALuke ShaeferAs the coronavirus continues to spread, University of Michigan poverty scholar H. Luke Shaefer discusses how the pandemic will impact hourly workers and families with low incomes. Shaefer, faculty director of Poverty Solutions U-M, is a professor of social work and public policy.What are the implications of the coronavirus pandemic for low-income families?As there are more and more closures, those who don’t have paid time off and only get paid when they clock in are going to run into the most financial trouble.

Study sheds light on differences in hospitalization-related care and outcomes for urgent cardiovascular conditions among homeless individuals

In a new retrospective study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine, a team of researchers led by Rishi Wadhera, MD, MPP, MPhil, an investigator in the Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), found that there are indeed striking disparities in in-hospital care and mortality between homeless and non-homeless adults.