Houston EMS Director Dr. David Persse explained, "In about 80 percent of them, all we do is transport, no lights, no sirens, no treatment, no splinting, no bandaging, no oxygen. It's just transportation."
It takes ambulances out of service for what are not medical emergencies. It also crowds emergency rooms for what could be handled with a clinic visit. For the past year the Houston Emergency Center has had a triage nurse linked in to dispatchers, to divert non emergency cases from ambulances and ERs. It saves about two trips a day. That's not a huge number, but there are benefits.
Karen Love with the Harris County Healthcare Alliance explained, "It is finding people who we can hopefully help with transportation and medical home connections."
That means neighborhood health clinics, and it also means getting to them by cab. So the city is poised to invest $250,000 from a health fund city contractors pay into a triage pilot project -- making a clinic appointment for a qualifying patient, paying for the first visit and the transportation to get there, if all goes according to plan.
"The only time they will call 911 again is in a true emergency because they will have somebody that they will regularly call to ask questions or to seek care," said Elena Marks with the Houston mayor's office.
For $250,000, the program could divert 1,750 people from ambulances and ERs. City council is scheduled to vote on the proposal this week.
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