{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T16:58:08Z","timestamp":1760029088747,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)","issue":"5","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>In 2012, Massachusetts changed its emergency shelter eligibility policy for homeless families. One new criterion to document homelessness was staying in a location \u201cnot meant for human habitation,\u201d and the emergency department (ED) fulfilled this requirement. Our aim for this study is to analyze the frequency and costs of pediatric ED visits for homelessness before and after this policy.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>METHODS:<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>This is a retrospective study of ED visits for homelessness at a children\u2019s hospital from March 2010 to February 2016. A natural language processing tool was used to identify cases, which were manually reviewed for inclusion. We compared demographic and homelessness circumstance characteristics and conducted an interrupted time series analysis to compare ED visits by homeless children before and after the policy. We compared the change in ED visits for homelessness to the number of homeless children in Massachusetts. We analyzed payment data for each visit.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>RESULTS:<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>There were 312 ED visits for homelessness; 95% (n = 297) of visits were after the policy. These visits increased 4.5 times after the policy (95% confidence interval: 1.33 to 15.23). Children seen after the policy were more likely to have no medical complaint (rate ratio: 3.27; 95% confidence interval: 1.18 to 9.01). Although the number of homeless children in Massachusetts increased 1.4 times over the study period, ED visits for homelessness increased 13-fold. Payments (average: $557 per visit) were &amp;gt;4 times what a night in a shelter would cost; 89% of payments were made through state-based insurance plans.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>CONCLUSIONS:<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>A policy change to Massachusetts\u2019 shelter eligibility was associated with increased pediatric ED visits for homelessness along with substantial health care costs.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.2018-1224","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,15]],"date-time":"2018-10-15T07:25:37Z","timestamp":1539588337000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Pediatric Emergency Department Visits for Homelessness After Shelter Eligibility Policy Change"],"prefix":"10.1542","volume":"142","author":[{"given":"Amanda M.","family":"Stewart","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine and"},{"name":"Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mia M.","family":"Kanak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children\u2019s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts;"},{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts; and"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alana M.","family":"Gerald","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine and"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Amir A.","family":"Kimia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine and"},{"name":"Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Assaf","family":"Landschaft","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine and"},{"name":"Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Megan T.","family":"Sandel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts; and"},{"name":"School of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lois K.","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine and"},{"name":"Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"417","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,1]]},"reference":[{"issue":"12","key":"2021121020475875400_B1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1010","DOI":"10.1097\/MLR.0000000000000436","article-title":"Predictors of emergency department visits and inpatient admissions among homeless and unstably housed adolescents and young adults.","volume":"53","author":"Mackelprang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Med Care"},{"key":"2021121020475875400_B2","unstructured":"US Department of Housing and Urban Development\n          . 2015 unaccompanied homeless youth in the United States. 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Protect children experiencing homelessness. 2013. Available at: www.mahomeless.org\/images\/EA_FY14_fact_sheet_2-22-13.pdf. Accessed March 26, 2016"},{"key":"2021121020475875400_B15","unstructured":"Kimia\u2008A\n          . Document review tools. Available at: www.documentreviewtools.com\/. 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