ORLANDO, Fla. — For the first time in more than two decades, Orlando has changed the way it delivers medical care by changing the way it delivers patients to the hospital.
There was plenty of activity at local emergency rooms on the first day in which Orlando took over most transport duties from a local ambulance company.
City officials have invested $2.5 million in 10 ambulances and will take over most responsibility for transporting the most seriously ill patients to hospitals, which is about 14,000 patients a year.
Rural-Metro Ambulance will continue to handle about 10,000 patients with mostly minor injuries.
“Patients are going to get to the hospital just as quickly,” Orlando Fire Department Deputy Chief Greg Hoggatt said.
Authorities said Orlando will now collect transport fees, potentially $9 million a year to reinvest in public safety.
“We know that the public safety budgets are going up. We’re doing everything in our power to trim back on our budgets,” Hoggatt said.
In fact, the city is charging between $700 and $1,000 per delivery. A spokesman said that’s more than Rural-Metro’s base rate, but will not increase as quickly as the private company’s rates for each medical procedure.
“Every time I’ve seen an EMS agency going to doing their own transport, the care got even better,” Seminole County Emergency Medical Director Dr. Todd Husty said.
Husty said that by not passing off patients to another carrier, they’ve reduced the risk of mistakes and improved feedback from patients.
“You pick them up at their house and transport them in. You hear whether you did well or didn’t do so well. It helps you improve,” Husty said.
The performance of the city’s transport services will be re-evaluated in 20 months to determine whether the program will become permanent.
Republished with permission from WESH.com