A working paper from the Corporation for Supportive Housing outlining suggestions for how health care reform should be structured to meet the needs of the most vulnerable members of society.

Major Recommendations from the paper include:

1. Every American living below the poverty level should have access to Medicaid. Health care reform should provide immediate coverage through Medicaid, to ensure access to (and a source of reimbursement for) essential health care services.
2. Providing community-based health services linked to housing - which allow homeless people with serious medical and behavioral healthcare needs to live in the community - should be an integral part of comprehensive health care reform, as such services can result in better health outcomes and reduce the utilization of more costly emergency, inpatient, and long- term care services.
3. To accomplish the goals of better health outcomes and reduce over-use of high-cost services, current payment systems must be adapted to finance community health services team models that integrate care for medical and behavioral health conditions as needed, providing a medical home or “person-centered health care home” model linked to a place to live.
4. The federal government should support state efforts to provide innovative care management strategies and medical home program models which focus on high-cost, high-need people with chronic disease and co-occurring behavioral health conditions, who have been hard to engage in appropriate care.