Medical Staff

Homeless patients incur higher hospital costs

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, March 22, 2011

Homeless patients often have longer length of stay, resulting in higher hospital costs, according to a new study published in the April Medical Care, a journal of the American Public Health Association.

In this comparative study of costs between hospitalized homeless patients and housed patients, researchers evaluated more than 93,000 admissions during a five-year period at an academic teaching hospital in Toronto, Canada.

They found that the mean cost of a homeless patient admission is $13,516 (Canadian dollars), which is $2,559 more than a housed patient. The price difference is attributed to homeless patients on the medical and surgical services who are hospitalized for more days than housed patients. In addition, homeless patients in the psychiatric service cost $1,058 more than housed patients, a cost which researchers report is not attributable to longer length of stay.

“These observations may help guide development of community-based interventions for homeless individuals and reduce their use of inpatient care,” states the study.

 

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