AARP Institute Highlights SASH as Long-Term Care Model
"Housing infrastructure can be used to address some of the most intractable challenges in the long term services and supports (LTSS) system, and many health care and LTSS providers alike are working to strengthen their relationships with housing programs and systems," notes the AARP Public Policy Institute in a Sept. 20, 2022, article summarizing its report about the merits of SASH, which uses the affordable-housing network in Vermont to extend health care and human services into the homes of people with needs for long-term services and supports. The article notes these and other SASH successes:
- A 2010 external evaluation found participants in SASH’s urban panels saw slower growth in Medicare expenditures, reducing growth by over $1,450 per beneficiary per year. Growth in Medicaid expenditures for institutional long-term care was also significantly slower for participants in site-based and rural panels, with an average impact of $400 per participant per year.
- 70 percent of SASH participants in a Vermont Department of Health-funded study reduced their blood pressure and 50 percent even moved into a lower risk category for serious illness.
- Studies from the Vermont Department of Health showed decreases in hospitalizations from falls at several SASH sites in the state, particularly among participants who frequently visit the emergency room.
- In several different surveys aimed at measuring SASH participants’ sense of empowerment and subjective well-being, participants said that they felt that they had easier access to mental health services and reduced social isolation.