Patrica Furci is an RN, a healthcare attorney and consultant. She serves as the in-house legal counsel for the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
Hospitals are facing real issues regarding readmissions by the homeless. With nowhere to go and little to survive on, members of this population suffering from medical problems face a continued march in and out of hospitals. These readmissions, however, are hurting hospitals in many ways.
Today's patient population in the acute-care hospital is being reshaped very rapidly. Since the recent harsh winter of 2010-2011, hospitals have seen record numbers of homeless patients present at their doors only to have many of them still residing in their facilities as the spring season unfolds.