Background: Between 2015 and 2019, 261,091 refugees were resettled through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Few are chronically ill, but previously these went to emergency rooms upon arrival. We designed a pilot program to anticipate, assess, and safely assume care of chronic health needs and stabilize sick and medically complex refugees upon arrival.
Clinical operations: Academic internal medicine and pediatrics clinics are linked to the Washington State Refugee Health Program and Refugee Resettlement Agencies. Arriving refugees deemed medically complex through overseas medical evaluation or post-arrival were selected for the program.
Metrics: We reviewed biodata of 2,947 refugees deemed medically complex. We referred five hundred and sixty one (19%) of these for evaluation, and 257 (46%) of referrals received care.
Discussion: Safe transitions of care are standard practice in medical systems. This innovation in Seattle is one example of a system for the safe and cost-effective relocation of refugees with complex illnesses.
Keywords: Chronic disease; Refugee screening; Refugees; Transitions of care.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.