Non-hospital transports

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 14-Mar-06 08:55:45 Central Standard Time,

ExLngHrn@... writes:

Does anyone have any data, protocols, or even opinions on EMS providers

transporting non-emergent patients to a facility other than a hospital

emergency

room (i.e. urgent care center, fast track clinic, public health clinic)?

Our Urgent Care system here in St Louis would not accept a stretcher

patient...instead, they would be referred directly to the ED.

We occasionally send a patient out be stretcher when it turns out that they

were sicker than they thought, and they need immediate care at one of the

local full service ED's.

ck

S. Krin, DO FAAFP

[Guest guest]

Does anyone have any data, protocols, or even opinions on EMS providers

transporting non-emergent patients to a facility other than a hospital emergency

room (i.e. urgent care center, fast track clinic, public health clinic)?

Thanks,

-Wes Ogilvie

Austin, Texas

[Guest guest]

What specific are you seeking, that is a loaded question. Medicare does not pay

to transport patients to a doctors office. It is not a benefit. Allot of

private insurances have no non emergeny benefits. From a billing aspect there

are allot of questions. On private insurance a good rule of thumb is to verify

benefits and verify whether a prior auth is required for the transport. Some

private insurance companies offer those benefits, Medicare however does not. If

this is billing related seek assistance on Medicare at www.cms.gov look for the

Medicare manuel and go to the ambulance section. I beleive you will find your

answers in section 10 hope that helps

ExLngHrn@... wrote: Does anyone have any data, protocols, or even opinions

on EMS providers transporting non-emergent patients to a facility other than a

hospital emergency room (i.e. urgent care center, fast track clinic, public

health clinic)?

Thanks,

-Wes Ogilvie

Austin, Texas

[Guest guest]

We don't transport to urgent care facilities but we do treat and refer

patients to them with simple trauma or very minor (bugs in the ear,

toothaches ect.). We started doing this shortly after hurricane Katrina

when our cities population doubled to 800,000 and our call volume

skyrocketed overnight. No problems so far. Most of the urgent care

centers are operated by one of the major hospitals and they didn't seem

to mind because the ED's were also affected.

BTW, we have been doing paramedic initiated referrals with paramedics

making " no transport " decisions on a limited basis (FTO's and

supervisors with additional training) for several years. We did not do

this in a vacuum without any additional training. Most people when the

hear of paramedics refusing to transport patients usually have a knee

jerk reaction that it is done without any additional planning or

training - just go out and tell these people no. That was not the case

in our situation. The experience we had pre-hurricane helped us

expanded this concept department wide after the hurricane and made the

increase in call volume a little more bearable. Think of the things

that you would do if your call volume would increase 150% in the next

three days and stay that way for several months.

AJL

________________________________

From: texasems-l [mailto:texasems-l ] On

Behalf Of ExLngHrn@...

Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 8:54 AM

To: ems-l@...; Paramedicine ;

texasems-l

Subject: Non-hospital transports

Does anyone have any data, protocols, or even opinions on EMS providers

transporting non-emergent patients to a facility other than a hospital

emergency room (i.e. urgent care center, fast track clinic, public

health clinic)?

Thanks,

-Wes Ogilvie

Austin, Texas

[Guest guest]

Why don't more cities do like the Phoenix Fire Department? For cases that

are non-critical, especially those going to a clinic or FEC, they give them

a cab voucher. It is cheaper for the city to pay for a cab than use the

ambulance. And, they have proof through the required cab log that the

patient was delivered to the care center. BTW, MediCaid will pay for cab

fares to and from clinics and hospitals.

BEB

Non-hospital transports

Does anyone have any data, protocols, or even opinions on EMS providers

transporting non-emergent patients to a facility other than a hospital

emergency room (i.e. urgent care center, fast track clinic, public

health clinic)?

Thanks,

-Wes Ogilvie

Austin, Texas

[Guest guest]

Michele -- I wasn't asking so much about the billing issues, but about the

patient care issues. My questions were addressed more than anything about

determining the appropriate destination to provide appropriate care for patients

who call EMS for situations that may not be best suited for ER care.

-Wes

Re: Non-hospital transports

What specific are you seeking, that is a loaded question. Medicare does not pay

to transport patients to a doctors office. It is not a benefit. Allot of

private insurances have no non emergeny benefits. From a billing aspect there

are allot of questions. On private insurance a good rule of thumb is to verify

benefits and verify whether a prior auth is required for the transport. Some

private insurance companies offer those benefits, Medicare however does not. If

this is billing related seek assistance on Medicare at www.cms.gov look for the

Medicare manuel and go to the ambulance section. I beleive you will find your

answers in section 10 hope that helps

ExLngHrn@... wrote: Does anyone have any data, protocols, or even opinions

on EMS providers transporting non-emergent patients to a facility other than a

hospital emergency room (i.e. urgent care center, fast track clinic, public

health clinic)?

Thanks,

-Wes Ogilvie

Austin, Texas