By Bill Carey
EMS1
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island has introduced a new rule banning standard diversions, a significant change for the state’s hospital system, which has long used this protocol to manage ER overcrowding.
Standard diversions allow hospitals to stop EMS from bringing in more patients when they’re overwhelmed by high patient volumes or staffing shortages, WJAR reported.
South County Health Chief Operating Officer Dr. Anitra Galmore said the practice is not working.
“There would be more than one hospital that would go on diversion, and we would have to determine whether owe would come off or stay on based on the needs of another facility,” Galmore said. “You really can’t anticipate what the acuity is in another organization, so there was a lot of back-and-forth.”
Back in July, the Rhode Island Department of Health and local hospitals agreed to an eight-week trial ending standard diversions. After the trial ended in August, RIDOH extended it indefinitely pending regulation updates.
Since the rule change in July, only one diversion has occurred, a power outage at Rhode Island Hospital, classified as an internal disaster.
Emergency departments can’t divert due to overcrowding but may still divert for internal disasters or specific infrastructure issues, like directing stroke patients elsewhere if a CT scan is down.
