A Primary Care-Public Health Partnership Addressing Homelessness, Serious Mental Illness, and Health Disparities.
Weinstein, Lara Carson MD, MPH; LaNoue, Marianna D. PhD; Plumb, James D. MD, MPH; King, Hannah BS; Stein, Brianna MD; Tsemberis, Sam PhD
[Article]
Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
26(3):279-287, May/June 2013.
(Format: HTML, PDF)
Background: People with histories of homelessness and serious mental illness experience profound health disparities. Housing First is an evidenced-based practice that is working to end homelessness for these individuals through a combination of permanent housing and community-based supports.
Methods: The Jefferson Department of Family and Community Medicine and a Housing First agency, Pathways to Housing-PA, has formed a partnership to address multiple levels of health care needs for this group. We present a preliminary program evaluation of this partnership using the framework of the patient-centered medical home and the "10 Essential Public Health Services."
Results: Preliminary program evaluation results suggest that this partnership is evolving to function as an integrated person-centered health home and an effective local public health monitoring system.
Conclusion: The Pathways to Housing-PA/Jefferson Department of Family and Community Medicine partnership represents a community of solution, and multiple measures provide preliminary evidence that this model is feasible and can address the "grand challenges" of integrated community health services.
Copyright (C) 2013 by the American Board of Family Medicine.
