Home

  • Home
    • » e-Newsletters

Homeless youth driving up ER visits

Respiratory Care Weekly, December 27, 2006

If homeless children were to be given health insurance, emergency room (ER) visits for routine care to treat asthma and other respiratory illnesses would go down, according to a study published in the December Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies. The study tracked a group of teenagers, some of whom returned home before they were 18, and others who didn't.

Youths who remained homeless were also more likely to seek ER treatment for common conditions such as respiratory illnesses and gastrointestinal problems that could have been treated in an outpatient setting. In some cases, health insurance was already available, but homeless shelter workers needed to provide interventions or facilitations to set them up, according to the study.

Most Popular