Reducing Health Insurance Enrollment Barriers for Individuals Who are Homeless

Abstract

Health insurance enrollment continues to be a problem for homeless adults in North Carolina (NC) compared to adults with stable housing. Factors acting as barriers to health insurance enrollment were identified as internal and external, which this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project focused on addressing by using a health insurance enrollment flowsheet. The project and flowsheet were implemented in Families Moving Forward, an emergency transitional homeless shelter in Durham, NC. Demographic and project-specific data was collected using a qualitative survey. Process data showed notable trends regarding administrative preparedness, knowledge of Medicaid criteria, and self-sufficiency. The implications of these findings are discussed along with the potential replicability of the health insurance enrollment flowsheet in other agencies.