A Pragmatic Trial Integrating Homelessness Diversion Services Into an Emergency Department Discharge System

The University of Texas System (UT)

Status: Invitation-only

Conditions: Homelessness

Treatments: Behavioral: Treatment-as-usual (TAU); Behavioral: Homeless diversion (HD)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT05823220

R01MD018213 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

HSC-SPH-22-0762

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a homelessness diversion program integrated into a hospital emergency department (ED) will lower ED use, to identify characteristics of individuals most likely to benefit from homelessness diversion and to discover opportunities to tailor Homelessness Diversion (HD) services to better meet the needs of diverse communities.

Enrollment: 1,000 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• English or Spanish speaking
• discharged from a Harris Health Hospital ED (Ben Taub or LBJ)
• at imminent risk of homelessness
• patients with Medicaid, Medicare or who are uninsured

Exclusion criteria

• having a conservator (legal guardian)
• plans to move away from Texas in 6 months

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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1,000 participants in 2 patient groups

Homeless diversion (HD) group

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Homeless diversion (HD)

Treatment-as-usual (TAU) group

Active Comparator group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Treatment-as-usual (TAU)