Hospital Diversion Initiative

The KC Hospital Diversion project is a collaboration of safety net providers who have agreed to divert persons with psychiatric and addiction disorders from hospitals to alternative services. The target population includes uninsured and underinsured adults (18 and older) with co-occurring conditions who frequent emergency rooms and inpatient services. The population is people living below the federal poverty level, and more than half are homeless. Hospital Diversion outreach teams provide an immediate response to hospitals' requests for service, including short-term, intensive response (stabilization, respite care, intensive case management) and longer-term supports that promote self-sufficiency (disease management, recovery, aftercare planning, housing, and transportation). Treatment retention strategies include outreach, assertive engagement, support services, and family member involvement. This project has spread through seven regions in the state of Missouri and is proposed to continue to include: Jackson, Lafayette, Cass, Johnson, Platte, Ray, and Clay counties.

The goal of the Hospital Diversion Initiative is to connect individuals who chronically utilize the inpatient and emergency rooms with outpatient care.

After three months in the program, participants showed a 66% reduction in ER visits, 68% reduction in inpatient hospital stays, a 72% decrease in homelessness, an 18% reduction in unemployment, and a 66% decrease in past 30 day arrests. More than 350 individuals have been served so far.

A total of 316 individuals have been referred since October 2013. After three months in the program, ReDiscover saw the following: a 66% reduction in ER hospital visits; a 68% reduction in inpatient hospital stays; a 72% decrease in homelessness (57% of the individuals referred were homeless at time of referral); an 18% decrease in unemployment; and a 66% decrease in past 30 day arrests. Cost savings for this round of individuals has not yet been determined. However, from 2009 to 2011, the first grant cycle, the program served 350 individuals with an estimated cost savings of $13.7 million over the 19 month time period.