The Cost of Homelessness in Oklahoma City April 1, 2009 to March ...

Oklahoma City Cost of Homelessness Study 2009‐2010
3) Mainstream System Administrative Data Maintained by Local or State Agency
Administrators
The third primary data source used for this study was administrative data from mainstream
service systems. Mainstream systems are those that do not exclusively target people who
are homeless. The primary mainstream systems that we attempted to include in the study
were:
• medical, including clinics and hospitals
• mental health care and substance abuse treatment
• first responders (EMSA and fire department)
• law enforcement (police department and jail)
• legal services
• food bank
• education
• food stamps and TANF entitlements
We were able to obtain mainstream cost data from each of these systems, except from the
Department of Human Services for food stamps, TANF, and the free or reduced‐cost medical
clinics that abound in our city. We used the mainstream administrative data to track
mainstream utilization and the costs associated with that utilization for the twelve months
of our study period.
• Medical Data
The Oklahoma City/County Health Department (OCCHD) agreed to request, collect,
aggregate, sort and report on Emergency Department and Inpatient Services data from the
six major OKC hospitals (we did not request information from Children’s Hospital). In the
end, we received 12 months of data from St. Anthony, Integris Baptist and Integris
Southwest, and eight months of data from OU Medical Center. Mercy installed a new
software system during the study period and was not able to participate.
The Health Alliance for the Uninsured agreed to request data from their member clinics, but
they were unable to collect information specific to homeless clients (they do not record who
is homeless and who is not). However, the Central Pharmacy, which is the satellite location
for the Oklahoma County Pharmacy (operated by the Oklahoma County Social Services
Department), provided monthly data on their services.
The State Department of Health, HIV/STD Services Division of Care Quality provided a year of
information on individuals they served who were homeless and HIV positive.
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