Oregon bill would change way hospitals discharge homeless patients

Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would require hospitals to change their discharge policies for homeless patients, ABC affiliate KATU reported March 28.

The proposed bill comes after a homeless woman died of hypothermia after she was discharged from Salem Health Hospital. It would require hospitals to change how they discharge homeless patients, requiring a warm handoff to a shelter or service provider, providing patients with a warm meal, clothes, transportation and health screening and help them enroll in Medicaid.

Hospital executives, meanwhile said they do not have the resources to meet the bill's requirements.

"[The bill] requires hospital emergency departments to take on more, placing the burden of Oregon's systematic homelessness crisis already on a stressed healthcare system," Andi Easton, a lobbyist for the Association of Oregon Hospitals, told KATU.

The bill is similar to a California law passed in 2019, but hospital advocates say there is no data that shows it improved patient outcomes.

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