Implementation of Mobile Medical Units for Veterans Experiencing Homelessness: A Mixed-Methods Study.
Objectives: Mobile medical units (MMUs) provide health care services in the community to reach populations with geographic, financial, and other barriers to care. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (HPACT) program deployed MMUs to 25 sites in fiscal year 20...
| Published in: | Public Health Reports Vol. 140; no. 5/6; pp. 568 - 577 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
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Sage Publications Inc.
Sep/Nov2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=189024485&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 189024485 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00333549 PHR jtl: Public Health Reports issn: 00333549 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Sep/Nov2025 vid: 140 iid: 5/6 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. artinfo: ui: 189024485 10.1177/00333549251365173 ppf: 568 ppct: 9 formats: tig: atl: Implementation of Mobile Medical Units for Veterans Experiencing Homelessness: A Mixed-Methods Study. aug: au: Yoon, Jean Wong, Emily P. Weber, Jillian J. Blonigen, Daniel M. Tsai, Jack affil: Health Economics Resource Center, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Menlo Park, CA, USA Center for Innovation to Implementation, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Menlo Park, CA, USA School of Medicine, Department of General Internal Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA VHA Homeless Programs Office, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC, USA Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA su: United States. Dept. of Veterans Affairs Substance abuse risk factors Community health services World Wide Web Internet access Human services programs Education African Americans Sex distribution Working hours Veterans Government programs Analysis of variance Communication Homelessness Housing Medical screening Medical care use Pearson correlation (Statistics) Medical prescriptions Endowments Research funding Mobile hospitals Drug administration Hospital emergency services Chi-squared test Descriptive statistics Equipment maintenance & repair Telemedicine Surveys Research methodology Medical appointments Medical records Application software Comparative studies Comorbidity Veterans' hospitals sug: subj: Substance abuse risk factors Community health services World Wide Web Internet access Human services programs Education African Americans Sex distribution Working hours Veterans Government programs Analysis of variance Communication Homelessness Housing Medical screening United States. Dept. of Veterans Affairs Software Publishers Software publishers (except video game publishers) Custom Computer Programming Services Community health centres All Other Outpatient Care Centers Residential Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities Other Individual and Family Services Other local, municipal and regional public administration All Other Miscellaneous Schools and Instruction Administration of Education Programs Educational Support Services Grantmaking Foundations Other Community Housing Services All Other Miscellaneous Ambulatory Health Care Services Administration of Veterans' Affairs General (except paediatric) hospitals Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals Medical care use Pearson correlation (Statistics) Medical prescriptions Endowments Research funding Mobile hospitals Drug administration Hospital emergency services Chi-squared test Descriptive statistics Equipment maintenance & repair Telemedicine Surveys Research methodology Medical appointments Medical records Application software Comparative studies Comorbidity Veterans' hospitals keyword: homeless implementation mobile medical units veterans homeless implementation mobile medical units veterans ab: Objectives: Mobile medical units (MMUs) provide health care services in the community to reach populations with geographic, financial, and other barriers to care. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (HPACT) program deployed MMUs to 25 sites in fiscal year 2024 to increase access for veterans experiencing homelessness. We examined early implementation of MMUs in HPACT sites by describing implementation and operational issues, services provided, and characteristics of veterans who used MMUs. Methods: To examine the implementation of MMUs on veterans experiencing homelessness, we conducted a mixed-methods study using an online survey and health care administrative data. Measures included MMU implementation time, staffing type, services, safety measures, maintenance costs, and characteristics of veterans using and not using MMUs. We examined differences between veterans who used MMUs and those who did not. Results: Seventeen of 25 sites responded to the survey; MMU implementation occurred during a mean of 147 hours in 5 months. Most sites (15 of 17) visited housing sites and homeless shelters in community- and VA-supported programs to provide health screenings, education, and medication administration and prescribing. Operating costs varied widely for vehicle maintenance and gas and medical and telehealth equipment. Veterans who used MMUs (vs did not use MMUs) had more medical comorbidities (Elixhauser score of 3.4 vs 2.8), were more likely to have substance use disorder (49.9% vs 39.1%), and had higher baseline levels of health care use, especially emergency department visits (0.4 vs 0.3 visits per quarter). Conclusions: Evidence on the effects of MMUs on patient engagement with primary and mental health care and acute care use is needed to inform decisions to implement MMUs. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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