Some Ambulance Rides Will Instead Be Tele-Doc Calls In RivCo

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a three-year contract with a tele-medicine company to set up virtual medical consultations for patients in Riverside County for whom an ambulance has been called but who are considered low-risk and not in need of emergency care, or who are refusing it.

In a 5-0 vote, the board signed off on the agreement between the county Emergency Management Department and Pasadena-based Tele911 Inc.

"Riverside County is taking an innovative step to prevent long wait times [in emergency rooms]," Supervisor Chuck Washington said. "This diversion program [is about addressing] long wait times and patient [ambulance] offload delays. This is how government should be tackling programs today, using innovative, best practices."

Under the compact, Tele911 will assist the EMD in establishing a program with protocols for when tele-med visits are appropriate and how they're managed.

The program will rely on a mobile platform developed by the startup company and intended for use by ambulance crews, relying on wireless internet.

Ambulance personnel would have to undergo training and certification to use the platform, according to the agreement.

"[The county] desires to allow for real-time telemedicine evaluation by a Tele911 medical provider of low acuity patients and for those patients who refuse ambulance transport to an emergency room," according to EMD documents posted to the board's agenda. "[The county] desires to maximize emergency medical services resource availability and improve [emergency room] bed capacity in Riverside County by referring medically triaged lower acuity 911 calls and linking patients to a variety of resources when safe and appropriate."

The new system will seek not only to reduce pressures on emergency services, primarily transportation to hospitals where unnecessary, but also lower health insurance costs by saving patients thousands of dollars "in co-pays and deductibles" that might otherwise be owed for an ambulance trip, according to the EMD.

The Tele911 service is eligible for Medicaid and Medicare coverage, as well as private health insurance reimbursements.

The goal during the first six months of activation of Tele911 is for at least 15% of ambulance dispatch calls to result in tele-medicine consultations instead, according to documents.

The new service will be monitored via regular reports to the county.