A proposal for tracking health care for the homeless

The number of homeless in the nation has increased rapidly during the first half of this decade. These two million homeless individuals are at high risk for health problems since they lack the essentials to remain healthy. Several large cities have developed and implemented health care programs to alleviate the problem of the homeless in America. However, most of these programs have been instigated solely by health care providers who have differing goals, values, and beliefs about health care than those they purport to serve. These differing perspectives give rise to an array of health care utilization/accessibility problems including coordination and continuity of care. To address some of these problems of coordination, a Tool for Referral Assessment of Continuity (TRAC) has been developed for assisting a complex health care system in the referral and tracking of homeless clients. A description of the TRAC is included here.