CSH has received a $125,000 grant from the United Hospital Fund and another $125,000 grant from the Altman Foundation to increase the integration of health and housing partnerships in New York by scaling The Bronx Frequent Users of Hospital Systems (Bronx FUSE) Initiative, which identifies and helps very vulnerable people within the healthcare systems who are in need of housing. FUSE is a CSH signature initiative demonstrating how communities can identify and engage super utilizers of public systems and place them into supportive housing to break the cycle of repeated use of costly crisis health services, shelters, and the criminal justice system. Specifically, the recent United Hospital Fund and Altman Foundation awards will build on the successes we have seen to date through our local FUSE projects, with a deeper emphasis on replicability within other communities, and with a more intense focus on a broader range of high-cost Medicaid beneficiaries. Ultimately, through the new funding, CSH will work to develop a Roadmap to establish and replicate partnerships between health plans and housing providers, and execute data sharing agreements in order to better understand the needs of their shared clients, especially super utilizers. Additionally, the proposed project will offer CSH the opportunity to hone an enhanced supportive housing model specifically catered to the needs of super utilizers of crisis systems, who may require a greater level of care to maintain housing stability and improved health outcomes. CSH is currently working with key stakeholders, including health plans serving members in the Bronx, to collect and analyze data on the highest-need homeless Medicaid recipients in the Borough and to prioritize the most vulnerable for a housing intervention. As they become available, CSH intends to disseminate our findings to the broader supportive housing field, healthcare sector and government entities.
