Impact of Stable Housing on Health Care Costs & Quality

Health reform in Oregon has created an opportunity to rethink approaches to improving access and quality while reducing costs.  In particular, Oregon’s CCO architecture creates a framework and incentives for investing health care dollars outside the traditional boundaries of health care service delivery, promoting health and improving cost and quality outcomes via a more comprehensive approach rooted in the social determinants of health.    

 One key element of this new approach is stable housing.  Residential instability is strongly associated with high health care utilization and costs, but there may be substantial health care savings associated with providing stable, affordable housing for vulnerable, at-risk populations. 

 Enterprise Community Partners has partnered with the Providence Center for Outcome’s Research and Education (CORE), to conduct a one-year study designed to fulfill the following objectives:

 1)       To rigorously assess the impact of stable housing on health care utilization, costs and quality in a low-income population who have experienced residential instability.

2)       To assess the specific impact of integrated services in housing on potential savings and quality indicators.

CORE will employ a longitudinal study design, using Medicaid claims data to assess changes in health care utilization, costs, and quality over time. Each individual’s data will be examined in relation to the date they moved into housing.  We will compare average utilization, cost, and quality scores before and after that key date in order to assess the potential impact of stable housing on our outcomes of interest.