Advancing Street Medicine - Aligning Research, Implementation, and Policy for Impact.

Abstract

Street medicine delivers clinical care and social support directly to people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the environments where they live, offering a critical alternative to traditional health systems that many cannot access. As programs expand nationwide, significant barriers limit scalability and impact, including fragmented data systems, limited research infrastructure, misaligned payment models, and lack of access to basic needs. This article synthesizes recommendations from the United States Street Medicine Summit to propose a national research and policy agenda. Key priorities include developing standardized metrics, building interoperable data platforms, establishing sustainable payment models, and strengthening cross-sector partnerships to support equitable, evidence-based street medicine programs.