Overcoming Barriers to Care for Homeless Populations: Integrating Primary Care, Behavioral Health, and Social Services - YOUNG PROFESSIONAL TRACK

Health centers serving homeless populations face many unique challenges and opportunities when providing health care and social services. It is made even more challenging when patients do not have permanent addresses, have chronic health issues and co-morbidities, and require greater care coordination amongst multiple providers and organizations.   This session will feature two health center models for integrating primary care, behavioral health services, and social services in homeless populations and communities. The J.C. Lewis Primary Health Care Center, Inc. is an FQHC treating the homeless population in the Greater Savannah area. Key partnerships between the health center, a local family medicine residency program, a large behavioral health services provider, and other community-based organizations serving people experiencing homelessness will be highlighted. Through their coalition work, the health center has built a team-based model to share data, create interventions, provide care, and reduce costs. Presenters will also address care integration models that were successfully implemented across five unique practice sites at Project Renewal, a New York City-based health center dedicated to providing primary care, mental and behavioral care, addiction treatment, housing, and job training for NYC’s homeless. Project Renewal team members from will co-present with their PCMH consultant about their journey: implementing appropriate access and integration; updating workflows and processes; communicating with clients; leveraging electronic health record functionality to support new workflows as well as tracking and measuring success; and more.