Tuesday, September 26, 2017

“Uberizing” Pre-Hospital Care




Medical costs keep rising and are under a great deal of government, societal, and insurance company scrutiny. Rarely discussed in the medical cost debate the true cost versus effectiveness of pre-hospital care.

The entire fire-rescue paradigm has broad support from most constituents but there probably could be some evidence-based cuts. The article above gives some guidelines how this can be attempted.
An interesting phenomenon occurs every time a rescue is dispatched: a fire crew is simultaneously sent out to act as first responders. The rationale four quick response is to arrive within 4 minutes, start CPR, and defibrillate someone with reversible V-fib. Yet, the majority of calls do not need CPR, defibrillation, our even treatment; but at the same time, they cannot be simply left where they are, and therefore need transportation to a care facility. 

Such transports are not only extremely expensive, but also take valuable paramedics out of service to act pretty much as a taxi. Municipalities commonly encounter fire-rescue budget constraints, and many cities now instruct their paramedics to call for a private ambulance themselves when the need is strictly for transport. Of course, such vehicle and personnel shuffling is time-consuming and potentially more expensive.

A potential “out-of-the-box” solution is to take advantage of the Internet, social media, and companies like Uber and Lyft. In the future Uber may be used as the generic name for Internet driven transportation services.

Potential applications are:
  1. When a patient needs just transportation, Uber can be called by the fire rescue, paramedics, and or dispatch. A patient may even initiate the call.
  2. Cities and Fire Rescues can contract with Uber to send specific taxis with CPR-trained our even ACLS-trained drivers to transport patients who do not need a stretcher for transport.
  3. Certain cities are studying paging anybody within 6 blocks of a cardiac arrest victim who has volunteered as a CPR first responder. Specially trained “Uber” drivers that can commence CPR and attach and use the AED can extend this first level of care. Having backup of this type would gou a long way to alleviate community concern, and generally assure that every victim is reached in under 4 minutes

There is considerable potential for cost saving. Think of reductions in fire station construction, personnel, and equipment. All of this could be achieved with little reduction in quality. It’s time to take advantage of social media and include private infrastructure to aid the public good. Perhaps in the future, stories about babies being delivered by taxi-drivers will be replaced by a stories of heroic Uber drivers in that honored role.