Non-emergency 911 calls can comprise more than half of an area’s ambulance, police, and fire call volume. While no 911 system can be perfect, such a large number of non-urgent calls should be a warning sign that the community is asking for something it isn’t getting.
Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) effectively reduces non-emergency 911 calls with a strategic process. First, MIH teams assess the patients most likely to call 911 for non-urgent reasons. Second, they develop a plan to meet this patient group’s unspoken needs. Third, they implement the program, whether it be hospital diversion, post-overdose response, or co-responders.
If you’re new to this idea, all that might have sounded a bit jargony. Don’t worry, as we go along we’ll break everything down in simple terms.
This is How Mobile Integrated Health Teams Reduce 911 Calls for Non-Emergencies
The community should feel free to call 911 whenever they fear that they are in danger. Certainly, no one would ever want to discourage someone from calling 911 in a real emergency (or even a potential emergency).
The problems begin when people call 911, even though they know they don’t have a real emergency. They call simply because they need help with something (usually something minor), and dialing 911 is the easiest solution. Can you fault these people?
In most cases, getting frustrated at these people does no good. Rather, it’s important to look for a solution. That’s where MIH comes in. Their goal is to provide these people with something even easier than dialing 911.
Here are several ways a mobile integrated healthcare team can reduce non-urgent 911 calls:
- Patient Follow Up Programs
- Hospital-Diversion and Alternative Destination
- Tiered Response and Advanced Dispatcher Triage
- Enrolment in Community Paramedic Programs
- Improved Patient Education
- Better Physician Access in the Field
- Disease-Specific Treatments (Fall Risk Assessment, PORT, Mental Health Response)
Now, here are the details on each of these methods.
Mobile Integrated Health Reduces Non-Emergency 911 Calls with Patient Follow-Up Programs
When someone calls 911 for a non-emergency, the first reaction shouldn’t be frustration. It should be a simple word: why?
And that answers are often surprising (while also building provider understanding). Sure, there’s probably a small portion of the population that purposefully misuses the 911 system; however, given that this issue of non-emergent 911 calls is so widespread, tacking this problem up to bad behavior probably isn’t appropriate.
When an MIH program conducts a follow-up on a person who called 911 for a non-urgent reason, they can spend some time asking questions. For instance, does the person lack reliable transportation that would prohibit them from going to the doctor’s office? Do they have a poor social network? Are they aware of other resources in the area?
Once MIH programs discover the cause, they can consider the solution.
Mobile Integrated Health Reduces Non-Emergency 911 Calls with Hospital-Diversion and Alternative Destination
One of the first ways MIH programs reduce non-urgent 911 calls is by setting up a transport program that takes these people where they should go.
For example, a person may call 911 because a runny nose is making it difficult for them to sleep. Certainly, this is a problem, but in most cases, it does not warrant a trip to the ER.
So, the ambulance that is part of an MIH alternative destination program can choose to take this person to urgent care instead. This reduces bottlenecks at the ER and may discourage people from calling 911 for non-urgent reasons once they realize they aren’t going to get “special access” at the ER.
For these programs to work correctly, field providers must work closely with ER physicians and their local medical director to ensure no truly emergent conditions go unnoticed or under-triaged.
Mobile Integrated Health Reduces Non-Emergency 911 Calls with Tiered Response and Advanced Dispatcher Triage
The tiered response program works alongside the hospital diversion programs. A tiered response program doesn’t directly reduce the non-emergency 911 calls; rather, it corrects the problem they create.
Take this example. A city of ten thousand people has four ambulances to respond to emergencies. Four is not that many. However, staffing shortages are very real now; if two people call 911 for non-emergency reasons, that leaves only two ambulances to cover the entire city.
Now, when someone has a real emergency, they are likely to get a delayed response from the ambulance. To correct this, MIH programs will have a community paramedic to help augment the 911 team. This community paramedic may respond to non-emergency situations, allowing the ambulances to remain available for emergencies.
Sometimes, dispatchers allow for non-emergency delays, meaning that ambulances for real emergencies arrive before ambulances for less severe cases.
Like alternative destination protocols, the tiered response system will help encourage people to avoid calling 911 unless they have a true emergency. The community paramedic who responds can also educate the patient on how to access appropriate resources for non-emergency situations.
Mobile Integrated Health Reduces Non-Emergency 911 Calls with Enrolment in Community Paramedic Programs
Alternative destination protocols and a tiered response system do not require unique buy-in from the patient. Those two programs can be implemented in any system and will likely improve people’s care and provider satisfaction.
However, after a system has implemented those two steps, the next leap is toward a full community paramedic program that will respond to the patient’s home regularly. The idea behind a community paramedic program is to provide more long-term out-of-hospital care to patients, thus reducing their need to rely on 911 for help.
A community paramedic program has several elements, and many communities have to get creative to deliver the care that their constituents require. In the next few sections, we’ll discuss some of the key points of a community paramedic program and how these things reduce 911 calls.
Mobile Integrated Health Reduces Non-Emergency 911 Calls with Improved Patient Education
Patient education is the first part of any community paramedic program. There are many reasons that people call 911, and if there’s anything the patient can do to prevent injury or illness, MIH teams want to ensure they’re aware of how to care for themselves.
MIH community paramedic teams will begin by making an environmental assessment, looking for hazards around the patient’s home. For example, many 911 calls are generated from people who need help getting up from a fall.
In many cases, steps could be taken to reduce the number of falls from these patients—such as installing handlebars, building ramps, or providing the patient with some kind of walking aid.
If the patient is not educated on the possibility of these devices, they will continue to call 911.
Mobile Integrated Health Reduces Non-Emergency 911 Calls with Better Physician Access in the Field
People often call 911 because they’re concerned about a minor issue and want to see their physician. They often call 911 and demand that the ambulance transport them to a hospital that may be outside their jurisdiction, all in the hopes that the patient can discuss something with their physician.
While EMS systems try to accommodate people where they can, the modern world has reduced the need for the vast majority of in-person visits—particularly those that only require a “check-up.”
Community paramedics and MIH can bring the physician to the person’s home via video call. In these cases, the provider on scene talks with the physician and ensures the patient is adequately assessed. This way, people feel more connected to their physicians and less reliant on the 911 system.
Mobile Integrated Health Reduces Non-Emergency 911 Calls with Disease-Specific Treatments (Fall Risk Assessment, PORT, Mental Health Response)
Mobile Integrated Healthcare will reduce non-emergency 911 calls by assessing specific needs and responding accordingly. For example, if a community receives a high volume of calls from people with mental health conditions, an MIH program will build a team of mental health professionals who can respond to these patients, thus reducing 911 calls.
The same holds for substance abuse. There are many MIH programs out there designed to respond to people with mental health challenges and reduce the number of 911 calls and emergencies from people with drug use issues.
Conclusion:
Non-emergency 911 calls can create significant issues for a community’s emergency response system. If these calls go unaddressed, people experiencing real emergencies are vulnerable because they will not get a fast response. In addition, crowded ERs lead to low patient and provider satisfaction.
MIH can reduce non-emergency 911 calls by providing alternative destination programs, tiered response systems, in-house physician access, and specific response teams based on a given need.
Contact Julota now to learn how our HIPAA-compliant, interoperable MIH-CP software platform can enhance your Mobile Integrated Health program and help you reduce non-urgent 911 calls in your area. A representative would happily listen to your needs, answer all questions, and provide a no-hassle demonstration.