Piloting Telehealth Strategies among People Experiencing Homelessness (PEH)

Project Overview

CARES for the Unhoused (CFU) is a telehealth-based free clinic that provides primary care for people experiencing homelessness in Charleston, SC. Our program consists of three arms: 1) video visits at a community based organization (CBO), 2) tele-precepted visits at a CBO, and 3) tele-precepted street medicine outreach visits with CBO staff. The Navigation Center is our partner CBO which is a full spectrum drop-in social resource center focused on those with housing instability.  For video visits, medical and pharmacy students are in-person at The Navigation Center and facilitate visits between patients and remote attending physicians. Tele-precepted clinic and street medicine visits are conducted by resident physicians with a remote attending physician. We provide over 500 visits each year to more than 250 unique patients. We train over 100 medical students and more than 20 resident physicians each year. We are constantly exploring innovative telehealth integrated strategies to improve health equity for the unhoused population.