PROBLEM:  How to improve the health status and use of health care among homeless adults in New York City?

SOLUTION:

Create rational, evidence-based recommendations to improve both access to primary care and prevention of more costly care among homeless adults via the Urban Pathways Medical Wellness Program.

HOW WE DID IT:  

Urban Pathways (UP) annually helps more than 3,700 homeless and at-risk New Yorkers in all five boroughs gain access to the housing, services and support they need to be self-sufficient. UP established a holistic Medical Wellness Program (MWP) to improve clients’ health status by connecting them to community-based sources of health care, providing education on health and wellness, and working to reduce reliance on expensive emergency services and hospitalizations. UP hired The Samuels Group to conduct a benchmark evaluation of the MWP in four shelters in 201#,with a goal that the resulting data analytics could create or adapt best-practices for the New York City ecosystem to improve MWP operations, components and success metrics. As a result, UP has realized opportunities to increase awareness of the MWP, engage in more frequent and substantive staff training, and expand and deepen relationships with local health care sources that will further improveme MWP outcomes.