No Housing, No Health: Why Payers Are Shifting The Paradigm

“Behavioral health provider organizations can provide the best possible care but those consumers who remain on the streets will never get better, unless they secure affordable housing,” says Andy McMahon, Vice President, Health and Human Services Policy, UnitedHealthcare Community & State.

Nearly 500,000 Americans are homeless and 200,000 of those are unsheltered (see Mind, Body, Community: Kaiser Permanente’s Unique Approach). But the data is pretty clear that consumers who are homeless have poorer outcomes and higher resource use—4.1 days longer hospital stays, $4,000 more per admission, twice the readmission rate, three times the number . . .