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Contra Costa County Meeting Discusses Ambulance Patient Offload Times  

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

Who

  • Contra Costa County hospital leaders  
  • Contra Costa County Fire Protection District  
  • Contra Costa County Emergency Management Services (Contra Costa EMS)  

What

Hospital Council convened hospital leaders, Contra Costa EMS, and Contra Costa County Fire Protection District for our quarterly meeting on ambulance patient offload times (APOT).    

Sutter Delta Medical Center and Contra Costa Regional Medical Center shared recent operational changes they made to achieve a reduction in their APOT by 30 minutes, for which they received high praise from our county partners.   

Contra Costa County Fire Protection District reported that it has put its proposed “hard offload” policy on hold for now.   

The meeting included discussion about Assembly Bill 40, which takes effect on Jan. 1 and addresses APOT standards. There will be future discussion and activity pending further review and guidance from the state. 

Takeaway/Next Steps

Meetings will continue in 2024, as they have been successful in building and maintaining positive dialogue to facilitate collaboration to reduce offload delays and return ambulances to service.