In the first half of this year, Denver Health, the city’s largest safety net hospital, treated more than 100 long-term patients. None of the patients had a medical reason for remaining in the hospital for most of their stay, according to an article on the Kaiser Health News website.
Legally and morally, hospitals cannot discharge patients if they have no safe place to go. So homeless patients can occupy hospital beds for weeks or months
For hospitals, it means losing money because a patient lingering in a bed without medical problems doesn’t generate income.
To address the problem, hospitals across the country are allocating charity dollars for housing.
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