
The ‘Frequent Flier’ Program That Grounded a Hospital’s Soaring Costs - bryanrasmussen
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/18/parkland-dallas-frequent-flier-hospital-what-works-216108
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susiecambria
Some folks (nonprofits and gov types) in the District of Columbia have long
wanted to do something like this data sharing for the breadth and depth of
social services. But we immediately ran into "We can't because of FERPA and
HIPAA." We also ran into "we can't because (fill in the blank with a BS
reason)." The latter a lot.

What there wasn't in DC is what there was in Dallas: A wholly committed leader
and an environment that made collaboration and connecting super appealing. It
would be interesting to know more about the behind-the-scenes work that took
place to make this project work. That information would benefit organizations
and governments across the US.

Note: DC does have a "frequent flyer" effort for those using 911 services.
Don't want to suggest nothing good is being done.

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aychedee
Sounds like the approach taken in every other country that has a national
health service.

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mschuster91
No, this one here is way, way more extensive. No country I know of directly
connects e.g. hospitals and food banks or homeless shelters like here.

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stu2010
Some hospitals are even going further than this:
[https://www.npr.org/sections/health-
shots/2016/06/29/4829940...](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-
shots/2016/06/29/482994000/a-hospital-offers-frequent-er-patients-an-out-free-
housing)

It's cheaper to just pay for a patient's apartment rent than keep treating
disease caused by exposure.

