Linking health and housing: Improving resident health and reducing health care costs through affordable housing

National health care reform has created an opportunity to rethink and improve the approaches by which people may receive quality, accessible health care while minimizing costs to the health care system. In particular, managed care models and Coordinated Care Organization architecture create a framework and incentives for investing health care dollars outside of the traditional boundaries of health care service delivery, promoting health, reduced cost, and quality outcomes via a more comprehensive approach rooted in the social determinants of health. One key element of this new approach is housing. Residential instability is strongly associated with high health care utilization and costs. However, providing stable, affordable housing for vulnerable, at-risk populations has been shown to improve health outcomes while reducing costs. In a one-year longitudinal study commissioned by Enterprise Community Partners in partnership with Providence's Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE), stable housing and integrated services for residents of affordable family housing, permanent supportive housing, and housing for seniors and people with disabilities was shown to significantly improve access to and quality of care, increase utilization of primary care, reduce emergency department utilization, and reduce health care costs by 12%. This presentation will explore significant data-driven lessons learned, and how health and housing sectors must collaborate to improve health outcomes for the people they serve and reduce costs for the health care system.