Hospitals around the country have been increasingly using homeless navigators to help place indigent men and women into treatments centers or housing after discharge, including this first-of-its-kind, two-year-old pilot program from Kaiser Permanente.
A provision under the Affordable Care Act allows Medicare to penalize hospitals for high readmission rates within 30 days of discharge, particularly among patients with heart attacks, heart failure or pneumonia. So hospitals near and far have begun various initiatives.
C. Duane Dauner is president of the California Hospital Association, the statewide leader representing the interests of hospitals, health systems and other health care providers in California. CHA includes nearly 500 hospital and health system members and more than 200 associate members.
