911 program could ease ER problems

Hoping to ease crowded emergency rooms and trim ambulance runs, Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has launched a program that aims to screen low-priority calls and divert patients from hospitals into more appropriate health care.

Under the program, which started April 19, a small number of the lowest priority calls — such as those for an earache or a stomachache — are being turned over to a nurse who is able to spend time with the patient on the phone to figure out appropriate treatment, which may not include a trip to an emergency room in an ambulance. "We're trying to challenge the way things are traditionally done," says Neal Richmond, an emergency room physician and Louisville Metro EMS director. "Let's find these people better care." The program, which is among the first of its kind in the nation, is widely used in the United Kingdom and Australia, says Jeff Clawson, medical director for the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch. Though a handful of cities have explored similar programs, only Louisville and Richmond VA), which piloted the program, are fully using it in EMS systems, he says.