In 2014, 100 homeless patients who made numerous emergency room visits cost Florida Hospital nearly $15 million.
One of those patients racked up a $1 million all by himself.
Homeless ER patients cost hospitals millions of dollars because they can’t, or don’t pay their bills.
The 100 homeless patients Florida Hospital cited are not the only ones they see, just the ones they see the most.
Some homeless people in Orlando visit the ER every week, some every day, for things like overdoses, mental health, or injuries.
Kenny Gardner has been to the ER four times this year.
“(I go) due to the elements and people mugging me and just all around sleeping on the streets,” he said. “I don’t eat. I don’t have nowhere else to go.”
Gardner has no idea how much his ER visits cost.
The city of Orlando is working to get homeless people off the streets in the hopes it will, among other things, reduce the burden on hospitals and emergency personnel. The program, “Plan to House 100,” focuses on 100 chronically homeless people in the city.
Florida Hospital has donated $6 million to help end chronic homelessness.
Gardner said having a place to stay would do a lot to keep him out of the ER.
“I wouldn’t be subject to the elements out here,” he said. “I’d be able to eat regular.”
Not everyone thinks just having a roof over their heads will reduce the number of ER visits by homeless people. Many people go to the ER because of addictions and mental health problems and a place to stay can’t fix that, said David Buckler, who volunteers at the Orlando Rescue Mission.
“They are going to do the same thing when they are in housing, whether they are in a shelter or on the street,” he said. “They will do it wherever they are living.”
Cox Media Group
