22 Jan Hospital staff aim to connect patients with resources
You might be asked a few more questions when you visit Harney District Hospital (HDH).
Hospital staff might ask you questions about your access to housing, utilities, food, transportation, and safety. The goal of this process is to gain a better understanding of your needs and work with community partners to identify resources that could be available to help you.
All hospital inpatients will be asked the same basic questions. If needed, your health care provider might ask you a few follow-up questions to get a better understanding of your situation. In the future, hospital outpatients and HDH Family Care clinic patients will be asked these screening questions as well.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires hospital staff to ask these questions. However, you are not required to answer them. If a question makes you uncomfortable, simply state that you prefer not to answer it.
Growing evidence shows that dealing with unmet needs like homelessness, hunger, and exposure to violence can help undo harm to a patient’s health. Health care providers can use information collected during patient interviews to develop treatment plans and connect patients to available services, whenever possible. This whole-person approach to health care goes hand-in-hand with Harney District Hospital’s mission of enriching lives through better health. Harney District Hospital is an equal opportunity provider.
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