It’s mind-blowing that nearly 27 years after Congress enacted the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), hospitals continue to call their local ambulance service for patients who are on their property.
To be fair, patients probably do call 911 on their own after being discharged from the emergency department, or are coincidentally near the hospital when they dial. But for hospital personnel to call EMS to perform a lift assist is a lesson in “I missed that memo” mentality. It takes a unit out of service, not just for the 15 or 20 minutes to perform the extrication, but the time to respond to the location, and the time to be back in service. What about incurring injuries on what is essentially a needless act? And what about the delay of care at the hospital?
There seems to be a great many downsides and very few upsides to this practice for the EMS provider. I hope that the report brings this practice to light and helps the hospitals, um, update their procedures. Providing service to the community is one thing, but helping to support a bad practice is another.
