Who
- Alameda County hospitals
- Falck Ambulance
- Hospital Council
What
On March 1, Falck Ambulance (Alameda County’s 911 provider) implemented a new ambulance patient offload time (APOT) policy for a 60-day trial period. In response to concerns raised by Hospital Council, the policy was revised to drop the provision to bill hospitals for offloads that exceed 30 minutes. In addition, when ambulance crews have been waiting for 60 minutes, Falck will work with emergency departments to offload patients rather than automatically offloading them to a cot or chair as originally envisioned. Falck also intends to file an unusual occurrence report with Alameda County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency for all offloads of 60 minutes or more.
Hospital Council is closely monitoring the implementation of the policy. On March 10, Rebecca Rozen hosted a virtual forum for Alameda County hospitals to share their plans for managing offloads over 60 minutes and experience to date with the policy, as well as discuss any needed changes.
Takeaway/Next Steps
APOT discussions are ongoing with Falck Ambulance, Alameda County hospitals, and the Alameda County EMS Agency.