ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Community paramedicine programs are expanding in Michigan to help reduce hospital readmissions and unnecessary emergency calls.
Huron Valley Ambulance and Livingstone County EMS launched a three-year community paramedicine pilot program to keep non-acute patients at home rather than transporting them to the hospital in an ambulance, Crain’s reported.
Medstar Ambulance also started a six-month pilot program to assist recently discharged heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients at home.
Medstar CEO Kolby Miller said the program is an “extension of the health system, with its purpose being to extend the care and attention the patients receive in the hospital.”
For up to a month after discharge, Medstar medics visit the patients at home every day for the first two weeks and every other day for the next two. They conduct examinations, review medication compliance and report back to the patient’s primary-care physician.
The visits also include transportation to doctor’s offices, if necessary, and prescription drug pickups.
“By visiting patients immediately and regularly, we can keep them on track and communicate directly with their physicians if something has changed with the patient or other concerns,” Miller said.
Miller said he expects to enroll 75 percent of heart failure patients within the next year, saving $3.1 million in readmission costs.
The Huron Valley Ambulance and Livingstone County EMS focuses on responding to nonlife-threatening medical calls at home, without transporting the patient to the hospital.
The medics provide primary care for minor illnesses, can schedule follow-up visits or phone calls and can arrange for a primary-care physician appointment.
“Calling 911 is not the best solution for someone who has a minor medical problem,” Huron Valley Ambulance CEO Dale Berry said. “A 911 response, ambulance transport, and emergency room visit is a very costly way to take care of a minor, nonacute illness.”
During the first two months, the program saved $107,700 in ER and ambulance costs.
So far the program has been free, but Berry said he’s planning on charging $180 per visit. It cost $500,000 to train the staff of 21 paramedics.