January 28, 2022
HPP, Housing Smart Team Win a Greater Philadelphia Social Innovation Award
Congratulations to Kristin Beck, HPP and the Housing Smart team on winning a Greater Philadelphia Social Innovation Award for Housing and Community Development. The team’s effort has led to a positive and long-lasting impact in our community’s overall health and well-being.
Health Partners Plans, Keystone First, Resources for Human Development, Inc. (RHD) and Temple University Hospital developed this program to improve the health of homeless patients by providing them with housing subsidies and support services. Between April and October 2020, the “Housing Smart” program enrolled 25 high healthcare utilizers with instances of avoidable emergency department or inpatient admissions. Priority was given to participants with opioid use disorder (OUD) and persistent mental illness with co-occurring physical health conditions.
Initial results showed a significant decrease in emergency department utilization and inpatient admissions for the 25 enrollees. Among the cohort, when comparing average monthly volume of utilization data from one-year pre-housed to the average monthly volume of utilization data of move-in date onward, there has been a 75% decrease in emergency department visits, 79% decrease in inpatient admissions, 77% decrease in admissions for observation and 50% increase in outpatient appointments.
Thank you for making the Philadelphia region a better place!