Whole Person Care
The vision of the County of Marin’s Whole Person Care Pilot is to build a sustainable, evidence-based, outcomes-focused coordinated system of care across health and social sectors to more efficiently and effectively serve Marin County’s most vulnerable Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
The pilot is building upon existing programs and services by implementing a unified, coordinated entry and care management system; by standardizing screening, assessments, and care coordination; and, by promoting bi-directional information sharing and care coordination among providers.
At Ritter, we are deliberate in our work to be present and create space for each person who comes to us. The vast majority come from chronic persistent trauma and loss of relationships, and therefore the threshold for trusting someone is quite different. They expect that someone is going to hurt, reject or mistreat them. They have been let down so many times that it has become a built-in narrative.
We know that housing is medicine for our patients. We don’t give up because a home is a sanctuary and we all deserve a place to feel safe.
Outcomes of Whole Person Care
Ritter Center is proud to partner with the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services and other nonprofit agencies that have reduced chronic homelessness by 28 percent since 2017.
From October 2017 through January 2020, 178 individuals who were experiencing chronic homelessness have been housed.
The total count of people experiencing homelessness in Marin on a single day is 1,034 individuals, a 7 percent reduction from 2017 to 2019. This is especially notable given significant increases in homelessness across other Bay Area counties.
A key component to this success has been our ability to create new housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness by pairing Marin Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Vouchers with intensive support services like the Ritter Center Whole Person Care case management team. We have created 100 new units of Permanent Supportive Housing in Marin using this approach in the past two years.
Marin has also implemented a data-sharing and care coordination platform that allows 30 partner agencies to access nearly 1,900 client profiles for vulnerable county residents.
In addition, there was the following:
- 17 percent reduction in Emergency Department visits and among Whole Person Care clients after being enrolled in the program.
- 20 percent reduction in incarcerations and among Whole Person Care clients after being enrolled in the program.
- 54 percent reduction in EMS transports and 86 percent reduction in police calls in San Rafael for people housed through Whole Person Care.
