Two cities pilot efforts using EMS to curb ED visits

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Two cities pilot efforts using EMS to curb ED visits

06/03/2010

Two U.S. cities have implemented a new program intended to screen EMS

calls to identify non-emergency cases and direct them away from hospitals to

more appropriate health care providers, in an effort to alleviate non-urgent ED

use, USA Today reports.

Advocates for the program-used in Louisville, Ky., and Richmond, Va.-tout

its potential to ease the burden on hospital EDs that face high patient demand

and to lower the number of non-emergency ambulance dispatches. Individuals

calling 911 who are deemed at " lowest risk " are transferred to an RN or nurse

practitioner who assesses the severity of a patient's condition. Nurses also may

direct a patient to a proper source of care, such as a primary care physician

(PCP) or clinic, and help connect patients who do not have a PCP with clinics

that are accepting new patients.

According to USA Today, 10 to 15 calls each day to ambulance dispatchers

in the Louisville area can be identified as low risk. These low-risk calls often

involved leg pain, abdominal pain and wound care. A Louisville EMS official said

that saving a trip to the ED may result in better follow-up care and,

ultimately, a better prognosis for patients, adding that the program will expand

to offer " intensive follow-up " to ensure no patient " falls through the cracks, "

USA Today reports.

The program costs about $100,000 to set up per city. An official from the

National Academies of Emergency Dispatch said that such programs are widely used

in Australia and the United Kingdom but that the programs in Louisville and

Richmond are the only ones in the U.S. (Halladay, USA Today, 6/1).

Ron

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