Emergency Department Utilization, Costs and Effects of the Homeless in Hawai’i

Date
2014
Authors
Mochizuki, Kenta
Contributor
Advisor
Traczynski, Jeffrey
Department
Economics
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
The homeless situation is a great concern for many here in Hawaii. Between 2012 and 2013, Hawaii had the 2nd highest homeless person per capita ratio, surpassed only by the District of Columbia (National Alliance to End Homelessness 2014). The purpose of this research is to find an estimate of the financial impact that the cost of homeless healthcare is having on hospitals, physicians and tax payers and increase what is known about the homeless in Hawai`i. My data will come from the HMIS homeless database and the MEPS medical database. My research will be done in four parts. The first will be to rebuild the fragmented homeless dataset. The second is to organize my homeless sample and the MEPS data into bins. The third is to create tables and other figures based upon that data. The fourth is to analyze my tables, other figures and dataset. The fifth is to use computational methods to derive the needed estimates. The findings of this paper were that the homeless go to the emergency department much more than those in the general population. The homeless have a much lower insurance coverage rate than that of the general population. The mean and median total unpaid estimate for the homeless population who received emergency and outreach services is $28,127,689.59 and $15,788,303.30. Having uninsured homeless individuals obtain Medicaid, does not immediately increase payment amounts to emergency physicians.
Description
Keywords
homeless, Hawai`i, emergency department
Citation
Extent
55 pages
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Table of Contents
Rights
All UHM Honors Projects are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.