Formative Assessment and Cluster Membership of the Homeless Person’s ER Visits

The evidence is limited as to whether homeless individuals who visit Emergency Departments share similar characteristics with individuals from private households who, upon examination, are confirmed to need emergency health services beyond preventative healthcare. While the literature heavily addresses the homeless person in the ED, similarity and differences in characteristics with other social groups are lacking to guide the development of targeted health care and emergency health services for the homeless person. This explorative study investigates hospital ER data to draw inferences on ER patient characteristics and attempts to categorize patients according to residence. Nominal regression analyses reveal that cluster membership generated from ER data can predict patient residence and suggest that substance abuse and depression can predict 72-hour ER visit recurrence. Despite reporting low comorbidities, homeless patients were more likely to experience frequent ER visits within 72 hours and had higher rates of depression and substance abuse. Based on behavioral, health, and social characteristics of the homeless person, hospitals could consider targeted provisions and a follow-up mechanism to meet the health care needs of homeless patients. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The study used only openly available human data that were originally located in 2019 at I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors