Medical Director Los Angeles County Fire Department Rolling Hills Estates, California
Description: In California, by statute, patients that contact 911 can only be transported to licensed Emergency Departments. In Los Angeles County, psychiatric patients are required to be transported to the nearest Emergency Department, regardless of psychiatric capabilities. Beginning in 2019, the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) began a pilot project to use telemedicine to enable a medical clearance to transport mental health patients to psychiatric urgent care centers. The result of the pilot has been hundreds of patients transported to centers designed and resourced to optimize their care while reducing ambulance patient offload time (APOT). While the LACoFD used nurse practitioners and physicians to validate the triage tool, the instrument is well within the paramedic scope of practice. In this talk, we will discuss the statutory and political barriers, the reasons why patients benefit, the tangible benefit to EMS providers, and a vision for the future.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion, the participants will be able to describe the statutory barriers that can prevent alternate destination transport.
Upon completion, participant will be able to articulate which organizations may be opposed to an alternate destination program and why.
Upon completion, participant will be able to describe the benefits of alternate destinations for patients and EMS provider agencies.
