Dignity Health Grant Will Increase Affordable Housing, Lower Healthcare Costs

Published on Thu, Feb 18, 2016 (12:10 p.m.)

Submitted by CSH and Dignity Health

$150,000 to Engage Hospitals in Las Vegas and Implement Housing-Health Solutions
(Las Vegas – NV) Dignity Health, one of the nation’s largest health care systems, is investing $150,000 to improve health outcomes of individuals who are “super utilizers” of emergency services at three Las Vegas hospitals. The grant to CSH will create up to 50 affordable supportive housing rental apartments, and open up greater access to medical and behavioral health services in the community.
“In Las Vegas, many homeless people have come to over rely on our emergency departments and other crisis care for their basic health services because they lack the stability of a home and a regular primary care provider to treat everything from colds to chronic illness,” said Pablo Bravo, VP of Community Health, Dignity Health. “We recognize supportive housing’s success in addressing homelessness and super utilization in other cities, and we want to get behind a similar solution in Las Vegas.”
CSH will be working hand in hand with hospital staff to identify those most in need of housing and services, and also with supportive housing developers and providers to ensure these individuals receive the access they need to stable homes and programs to improve their overall health.
“Ample evidence now demonstrates that having or lacking the stability that comes with housing can determine the state of your health,” said Deborah De Santis, CEO and President of CSH. “Our model that helps super utilizers break the cycle of crisis care is good for the health of the patient and the fiscal health of the hospitals. Identifying super utilizers and providing them the housing and case management they need reduces their overreliance on band-aid approaches and delivers regular care that is far less expensive.”
Today’s announcement from Dignity Health builds upon their long-standing partnership with CSH to create supportive housing for super utilizers of health services. In 2011 Dignity Health provided CSH a $2 million loan for supportive housing development in Los Angeles, California. In 2013, through Glendale Memorial and California Medical Centers, Dignity Health provided two grants to support the CSH Social Innovation Fund Initiative in Los Angeles.
“This help from Dignity Health is so timely and we greatly appreciate their partnership with us,” said Simonne Ruff, a CSH director overseeing the effort in Las Vegas. “Recent estimates from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development indicate the majority of Nevada’s approximately 1,000 chronically homeless individuals are located in Las Vegas. The data also tells us they are often stuck in an endless cycle of shelters, emergency room use and other crisis care over utilization, which is why it’s so vital to engage local hospital staff as soon as possible.”
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About Dignity Health
Dignity Health, one of the nation’s largest health care systems, is a 21-state network of nearly 9,000 physicians, 56,000 employees, and more than 400 care centers, including hospitals, urgent and occupational care, imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. In FY14, Dignity Health provided nearly $2 billion in charitable care and services. For more information, please visit our website at www.dignityhealth.org
About CSH
CSH has been the leader in supportive housing for nearly 25 years, demonstrating its potential to improve the lives of very vulnerable individuals and families. CSH has earned a sterling reputation as a highly effective, financially stable organization, with strong partnerships across government, community organizations, foundations, and financial institutions. CSH is advancing innovative solutions that use housing as a platform for services to improve lives, maximize public resources, and build healthy communities. We are working to assure that housing solutions are accessible to more people in more places. Visit us at www.csh.org