California Assembly Bill 271 Authorizes Counties to Establish a Homeless Death Review Committee
National Health Care for the Homeless Council Provides
Guidance to Establish a Homeless Death Review Committee
AB 271, which was passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor last month, states
This bill would authorize counties to establish a homeless death review committee for the purposes of gathering information to identify the root causes of death of homeless individuals and to determine strategies to improve coordination of services for the homeless population.
The bill would establish procedures for the sharing or disclosure of specified information by a homeless death review committee.
Establishing a Homeless Death Review Committee
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC) provides a Homeless Mortality Data Toolkit: Understanding and Tracking Deaths of People Experiencing Homelessness that promotes guidance for jurisdictions to create and implement a Homeless Mortality Workgroup and can provide guidance for California’s counties to establish a Homeless Death Review Committee.
Guidance involves:
- Identifying and including appropriate committee members;
- Sources of homeless mortality data;
- Methods for measuring deaths among people experiencing homelessness;
- Creating a homeless mortality report;
- Calculating homeless mortality rates among people experiencing homelessness; and
- Long-term needs.
NHCHC notes on page 12 of its Homeless Mortality Data Toolkit that their report provides a high-level overview of the most common mechanisms used for collecting and reporting on homeless mortality. We hope that health and housing advocates can learn from this information to inform their efforts to create and carry out ongoing homeless mortality data reporting efforts on a local, state, and national level.
- Identifying and Including Appropriate Committee Members
AB 271 does not provide examples of appropriate committee members for a Homeless Death Review Committee.
NHCHC provides guidance in this regard on page 13 in its Homeless Mortality Data Toolkit and suggests that health department and community partners appropriate for a task force/working group can include:
- Medical Examiner/Coroner leaders
- Health department, epidemiology, and public health leaders
- City/County Homeless Department leaders
- Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) programs or other health centers
- Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Continuum of Care leaders
- Homeless services providers
- Hospitals, health plans
- People experiencing homelessness (PEH)
- Community providers and advocates.
NHCHC also notes on page 12 of its Homeless Mortality Data Toolkit that It is scarcely possible to initiate a homeless mortality report independently. Successful reports, rather, emerge from a collaborative task force or work group that focuses on accountability, brings in multiple points of view, provides partnerships and data-sharing, reviews results, and carries out recommendations. Such work groups must partner with health department leads.
- Sources of Homeless Mortality Data
Sources of homeless mortality data listed and described on pages 13 – 14 of the NHCH Toolkit include:
- Coroner’s Office/Coroner’s Report
- Office of Medical Investigator/Medical Examiner Report
- State Death Records
- Community-Based Primary Data
Mortality data in most jurisdictions reside with the Coroner’s Office.
- Methods for Measuring Deaths Among People Experiencing Homelessness
Methods for measuring deaths are described on pages 17 – 20 of the NHCH Toolkit.
Methods for measuring deaths involve identifying persons experiencing homelessness at the time of death and recording demographic characteristics and information about the mode and manner of death. Homelessness is often noted under type of residence by the Coroner’s Office. Mode of death is often categorized under accident, homicide, natural causes, and suicide.
In a report that Urban Initiatives recently completed concerning homeless mortality in Los Angeles County, the following was noted regarding mode and manner of death.
Accidents often include blunt force trauma including multiple injuries and head injuries, drug effects, toxicity from cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl, or multiple drug intoxication, and smoke inhalation and homicide which often includes gunshot wounds, stab wounds, blunt force injuries, or strangulation.
Natural causes often include complications due to diabetes and obesity, heart disease, pulmonary embolism, sepsis and septic shock, and sudden cardiac arrest. Suicide often includes blunt force trauma, gunshot wounds, hanging, and acute toxicity.
- Creating a Homeless Mortality Report
For creating a homeless mortality report, NHCHC notes on page 20 that each jurisdiction’s homeless mortality report will differ. The NHCHC recommends a close review of the reports referenced in their toolkit (Appendix B) to find a format and method that works best based on the type of data available and the amount of work that can be put into the project.
Their recommended key elements include:
- Definitions
- Categorizing causes of death by type and demographics
- Locations of death
- Focus on special issues (overdose, substance use, homicide, suicide, accidents)
- Homeless mortality rates vs general population
- Recommendations
- Calculating Homeless Mortality Rates Among People Experiencing Homelessness
The NHCHC Toolkit notes on pages 20 – 21 that calculating homeless mortality rates often demonstrates that people experiencing homelessness (PEH) have higher mortality rates than the general population and that local data that quantify these mortality rate differences can be a powerful tool for advocating policy and programmatic action to reduce this disparity and support prevention efforts.
NHCHC briefly describes a “Direct Method” for which you will need a “standard” population to which you apply age/gender specific mortality rates for your PEH population and your community population and it is common to use US census population as the standard population.
- Long-term Needs
The NHCHC Toolkit describes jurisdictions’ long-term needs on pages 21 – 24. Jurisdictions need to anticipate that the ability to obtain and link data on homeless deaths requires engagement with and commitment from the communities that produce the data, in addition to the organizations that manage the data. Through: 1) improved data standardization; 2) improved data quality; and 3) political will, these systems will continue to improve.
The Homeless Mortality Toolkit consists of four chapters and two appendixes.
Chapter 1 is entitled National Homeless Mortality Overview and consists of pages 5 – 11.
Chapter 2 is entitled How to Start a Local Homeless Mortality Data Report, which can be found on pages 12 – 25, and is largely used to describe numbers 1 – 6 above.
Chapter 3 is entitled Homeless Mortality Literature Review and begins on page 26 through page 29.
Chapter 4 is entitled Clinical Mortality Review: A Guide and can be found on pages 30 – 32.
Appendix A is Clinical Mortality Review Example Materials (pages 33 – 35) and Appendix B is Homeless Mortality Workgroup Member Resources (page 36) and lists various City/County Mortality Reports through 2020.
AB 271 and Education and Prevention Strategies
AB 271 states that Information gathered by the homeless death review committee and any recommendations made by the committee shall be used by the county to develop education and prevention strategies that will lead to improved coordination of services for the homeless population.
NHCHC references many homeless mortality reports completed by cities and counties nationwide prior to 2021 in Appendix B in the Homeless Mortality Toolkit which can help California counties develop homeless mortality education and prevention strategies. Several of the reports in Appendix B were completed by California counties, including Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, and San Francisco (city/county).
Since 2021, several homeless mortality reports have been completed by California counties that are helping develop homeless mortality education and prevention strategies. They include:
Report on 2021 Orange County Homeless Deaths
As stated in the report, the Homeless Death Review Committee reviewed and analyzed data related to the deaths that occurred in calendar year 2021 of PEH. The goal of the Committee was to utilize the data to uncover potential trends related to the causes of death for PEH that would lead to either service and/or policy recommendations that may help prevent future deaths among the homeless population. Click here to read the report.
Recent Trends in Mortality Rates and Causes of Death Among People Experiencing Homelessness in Los Angeles County
As stated in the report, the data presented demonstrate the urgent need for our systems of care and support for PEH in LA County to include a focus on preventing premature death. The recommendations at the end of the report grew out of a collaborative effort across multiple County entities to address the high and rising mortality rates in the homeless population. The HMPI workgroup has also developed a plan of action to address these recommendations. Click here to read the report.
Sacramento County 2021 Homeless Death Report
As stated in the report, the goal is to support the communities understanding of the tragic deaths of our unhoused neighbors in Sacramento County and implement recommendations to prevent the untimely deaths of our unhoused neighbors in our city and county. Click here to read the report.
Alameda County 2021 Homeless Mortality Report
As stated in the report, next steps involve regular homeless mortality reporting, Alameda County Homeless Mortality Review Team, continuous data quality improvement, and provider-based mortality review. Click here to read the report.
Together, the guidance promoted by the NHCHC and past homeless mortality reports can help California’s counties establish a Homeless Death Review Committee or further the development of similar committees to help fulfill AB 271 statewide.