New York City has the largest homeless population in the country, an issue the city has tackled through prevention, affordable housing and health care initiatives. At the safety-net health system for the city, New York City Health + Hospitals, which serves more than one million people a year, identifying and helping to care for homeless New Yorkers is a part of our transformation efforts. Using data science to identify and “phenotype” our homeless patients helps us tailor their care and match them to the right hospital and community-based supports—ultimately including housing itself.
Using Data to Provide Better Health Care to New York’s Homeless
As the safety-net health system for the city, New York City Health + Hospitals, which serves more than one million New Yorkers a year, is responsible for identifying and helping to care for the homeless. By sifting through registration documents electronic medical records, and insurance claims and matching addresses to homeless shelters, searching for “homeless,” “undomiciled,” or “shelter,” flagging patients whose zip code changed 10 or more times in one year and other strategies, a Health+ Hospitals population health team used data analytics identify and categorize the systems homeless patients, (more than 20,000 in one year), helping Health+Hospitals to better understand their health care needs, tailor their care and match them to the right hospital and community-based supports—ultimately including housing itself.